Disclaimer: Honest, I don't own Kingdom Hearts. Just this story, people, that's all…(And I wish I could say Roxas was mine too.)

Chain of Hearts, Chapter 2:

Traverse Town

By Nagori Kirashi

Sora, Hayner, and Roxas were all sitting in the train quietly. Roxas and Sora sat next to eachother, and Hayner sat across from them.

None of them said anything.

"…You know, if I were someone else right now, I think I would be scared."

They looked up at Hayner to see him studying his closed pocket knife. He was hanging his head, and the look on his face made it look as if he really were someone else.

"I mean, one part of me is excited," he continued, "but another part knows that…Olette…What will happen to her if I…?"

Sora and Roxas looked at eachother.

"Don't worry," Roxas said. "If something happens to you, then Sora and I will make sure to save her for you."

Hayner looked relieved, yet he still hung his head.

Finally he looked up with a look filled with more confidence.

"You're right, and besides, I won't let anything stop me!" Hayner declared in a way that caused Sora and Roxas to laugh. The two would much later reflect upon the irony of these words when Hayner had developed his own fighting style.

"I remember how my first adventure started," Sora recounted. "I was on my island, and I'd been having these really weird dreams. Suddenly, one night the whole island was covered in Heartless everywhere I looked! I found Riku, but he disappeared into the darkness. Then I found Kairi, but all of a sudden there was this breeze, and she blew right through me and was gone!"

"Woa, sounds scary," Hayner said with admiration. "What happened next?"

"Who says anything happens next?" Roxas teased.

"Well," Sora continued anyway, ignoring his other's joking remark. "Just before I saw that happen to Kairi, I found myself holding the Keyblade. Just like that"—he snapped, causing Hayner to flinch just slightly—"and then, after she was gone, I was suddenly standing in front of this giant Heartless! I'd faced one just like it in my dreams, and I finally beat it, my first giant Heartless! Well, I kinda beat it, but then we got drawn into this thing, along with the whole island itself…and then everything went dark."

Hayner seemed to be hanging on his every word.

"Okay, then I woke up in Traverse Town…" Upon the curious look he got from the others, he explained, "…It's kinda like Twilight Town, but a little older. Lots of people went there after their worlds had been destroyed, just like my island had been. Anyway, that's where I met Donald and Goofy."

As the other two continued to stare, Sora finally finished, "So that's how my story began."

"That's it?!" Hayner complained. "That's all you're telling us? What about Kairi, how'd you find her again? And what happened to that island you were talking about?!"

"Maybe later," Sora shrugged kindly, no longer in a talkative mood. "Roxas, how about you?"

"Aw, you guys both know how mine began with the Keyblade," Roxas said to them evadingly. Hayner still pouted.

"Well, then, how about before that?" Sora asked. "Your story in a nutshell, as some would call it."

"A nutshell, huh…?" Roxas gave Sora a funny look before starting. He found it hard to tell a story when he kept denying his past. "Well, I remember when Xemnas found me…I didn't know who I was or why I had these to fight with."

His two faithful Keyblades, Oathkeeper and Oblivion, appeared in his hands as if looking at them helped him remember.

"Anyway, back then, I was…kinda friends with Axel. Okay, so we were friends." His expression was vacant as he spoke. "Anyway, I wanted to understand why they chose me…so I finally left the Organization to figure out why. Eventually Riku found me and he, well…I got put in Twilight Town until Sora's memories returned, and while I was there, I forgot almost everything about myself."

Sora looked quite interested at this point, so Roxas continued. "Anyway, I kept having dreams about Sora…At first I didn't even know who it was, and before I knew it, it had all come back. Naminé was in charge of the whole memory thing, and she told me it was affecting me too. Oh, and I kept running into those Dusks! Anyway, one day I found my way into the mansion, and in one of the rooms I found Donald, Goofy, and finally…"

Roxas faded off, then distracted the others by looking at Hayner and asking, "Hey, how much did that knife cost?"

Hayner looked up from it suddenly as if just realizing he had been holding it.

"Uh…" He stalled for a moment, looking back and forth from Roxas to Sora as if he'd rather not tell. Then he remembered he had nothing to hide, or so he thought, and a smile covered his face. "It was worth a lot…The guy said it's really special, like 200,000 munny. But he said that I could have it for only 4000 munny, as long as I promised to use it for someone I care about. I thought it was just some kinda 'buy now' deal where they talk you into it, but it looked pretty good, so I said sure and paid him."

"…And whose munny was that, exactly?" Roxas asked him, suspicious for some reason.

Hayner didn't reply right away.

"Eh, sorry Roxas, but I found a, um…few thousand in one of your pants pockets one day after you guys came back, so I figured I'd pay you back as soon as I told you, so…"

"My pants pocket? As in you mugged me?" Roxas seemed quite angry. "And just when were you planning to tell me anyway, huh?"

"Well, at least it went to good use," Sora said, trying to calm his temperamental side.

Roxas calmed down a bit. "I suppose that's a good point…"

"Oh, right, you listen to him." Hayner rolled his eyes, and Roxas sighed.

"Give me that," the spiky-haired blonde demanded suddenly, standing up and grabbing the camouflaged pride and glory from Hayner, then sitting next to him instead of Sora. "I wanna look at it, seeing as it's basically mine anyway."

"Hey! Give it back!" Hayner pouted, but Roxas barely heard him. He was too busy studying the knife's strange blade.

Roxas hadn't noticed its odd, mica-like luster before. It looked like it were somehow made out of a fusion between stainless steel and black iron, resulting in a multi-blend of everything from light snowy-gray to deep charcoal black. If he had to decide its true color, he would have had to say black, seeing as that was the darkest color he could identify within the rainbow of grays.

Then he noticed the carving on the blade. How anything could even scratch what Roxas instinctively recognized as such a strong blade he didn't know, yet the small emblem was etched so intricately that he couldn't help but to run his finger along its surface.

As soon as his finger came near the edge, though, he felt it cut cleanly along one side of his finger.

"Ouch!" Roxas said, dropping the knife on the floor. It jabbed about an inch into the thick floor, and Sora reached forward to grab it for Hayner.

"Oh no, it's probably scratched now!" Hayner whined. "Good going, Roxas!" He shoved Roxas with one elbow.

"Hey, I was moving my finger on the side of it; it shouldn't have even scraped me, much less gashed me!" His finger was bleeding quite hard now, and in the meantime Sora was now trying with a stubborn effort to tug the immovably-wedged knife from the train's floor.

"God, let me try," Hayner said, grabbing the knife from the floor as if it were stuck in a surface made of soft leather. While Sora's hands were red from trying to retrieve the blade, Hayner hadn't seemed fazed.

Roxas wrapped his finger in his black shirt, thankful that its dark color would hide the bloodstains.

"You guys are such wusses," Hayner said, trailing his finger along the knife's sharp, clipped edge almost lovingly.

His finger was unharmed.

-,-,-

Axel looked down at the three girls lying in front of them as one by one they opened their eyes.

"…Hm?" Kairi was the first to sit up and look around. "Where…I know you!"

Soon after her Naminé, followed by Olette, was sitting up. Each of them took in their captor's face as well as their surroundings.

"I know this place…" Kairi said quietly, looking around.

The area they were now at was an unusually large and abnormal place, one where they couldn't quite see all the sides as fog created by reflections of hazy multi-colored light filled the air thickly in the distance. The floor itself reflected everything and nothing, from the three girls lying there to mysterious, invisible shapes drifting what would look to be right above their heads, despite there being nothing there. Other than their blurred reflections, there didn't seem to be a floor, and it looked as if it were a dimension all of its own by the way a familiar cross-like symbol drifted in every direction while following an unperceived pattern.

"I'm sorry I have to leave you girls here for awhile," Axel said to them as he stood over several feet away from the group. "But I have some kind of business to attend to, and I guess in order to keep Mr. Head-Honcho happy, I have to do what he tells me this time. Now don't be running off or anything…you wouldn't want to get lost in this place. I thought I should let you know."

They huddled closer together on the invisible floor as Axel bid them a supposedly kind farewell and disappeared in a haze of black.

"Should we listen?" Naminé asked Kairi quietly, both still staring in the direction that their captor had left in.

"I think so," a soft voice replied. Kairi and Naminé turned to look at Olette, who's face was pale with her emerald green eyes set farther back in her head as she shrunk lower in fear. "I don't want to get lost."

Kairi and Naminé looked at eachother with understanding nods as they felt Olette's fingers cling to their sleeves in fear. The only one of them not to have ever set foot outside of her world, as far as they both knew, was Olette.

"It's okay, we'll stay right here with you," Kairi comforted. "It'll be okay."

"Promise?" Olette said, not wanting to take her fearful eyes away from where they had last seen Axel.

"…It's a promise," Kairi whispered.

-,-,-

"Hey, how do you think Axel returned?" Roxas said, turning to Sora. On the other side of the train, Hayner was asleep.

"I don't know," Sora replied with a smirk forming, "but I think Hayner's not feeling so nervous anymore."

Sure enough, not only was their hometown friend fast asleep, but he was sprawled about in sitting position, his head and one arm across the back of his seat, one leg jutted out, and one knee propped up where he rested his other arm. His entire body was swaying jerkily side to side as the train moved along somewhat smoothly, yet it seemed nothing could wake the boy as he lie there with his jaw hanging open.

"Probably tired," Roxas commented, looking at Hayner almost jealously. "We left at around like 7:50, didn't we? What time is it now, like ten'?"

"Uh, maybe that's a bit much," Sora admitted, though it certainly did feel as if it could have been that long. When he remembered last time, though, he recalled it had been even longer than this.

Just as Sora turned to look for a clock, they felt a light jerk and heard the long, loud screeching of the train's iron wheels scraping the track as the train begin to slow down.

"Are we there yet?" the spiky-haired Roxas asked hopefully, sitting forward in his seat.

"We can't be," Sora replied somewhat more quietly, suspicion in his face. Suddenly they felt the train jerk again, this time knocking Roxas into Sora and causing even Hayner to sit up in alarm.

"W-what's going on?" Hayner asked as they heard the train wheels screech, as if it were trying to move but couldn't. They all looked out the window but could see nothing but stars in every direction, including down. After all, it was a train that connected two worlds, and where would they be if it wasn't space itself?

"This is a really bad place to break down," Roxas said, and Sora smiled.

Yet Hayner looked as if he were going to throw up.

"Something doesn't feel right," he said to them queasily. "I feel sick, but I don't think it's my stomach."

Just then they saw on each side of the train a swirl of blackened mist that begin to weave itself in a tight circle, growing until they took on the shape of two dark-clad figures. One they recognized as Larxene, and the other as Demyx.

"Man, how'd you come back, too?" Sora said, jumping to his feet and standing back to back with Roxas, his Keyblade grasped in both hands before his sentence was even finished. Roxas also held his two preferred Keyblades.

Demyx took an alarmed step backwards toward the front of the train.

"Aw, I had a feeling you'd do that," he said to them, shrugging.

"Roxas," Larxene said to the group, looking mostly at the blonde boy facing her. "Lookin' slick for a dropout, you know that?"

"Wish I could say the same to you," Roxas shot back, grabbing onto Hayner's arm as he spoke and tearing the newbie to his feet.

"What's this? Did you bring me a new friend to play with?" Larxene asked suddenly in a sweet voice. She came closer, looking at the frightened Hayner curiously, though a mocking gleam still resided in her eyes. To Sora's surprise mainly, Hayner's temper suddenly flared at her reference to him. Roxas, however, was not surprised at all.

"Friend?" Hayner said, taking a step towards her as well. "Don't you wish!" He had his knife out in one hand, and he was looking at her with a dark expression that seemed to threaten with every last nerve to kill her as soon as he decided where.

"Ooh, what kind of knife is that?" Larxene asked him, no longer as interested in tormenting him as she was in the knife. "That's no ordinary blade, is it…?"

"Why don't you find out for yourself!!" Hayner took about four running steps at her, then leaped himself towards the darkly-dressed enemy.

The knife cut clean through her, causing her to stumble back. Hayner jumped back, not wanting to take on his own enemy quite yet and also avoiding being too far from the other two, who were his backup.

"Hmp, how's that for starters!" Hayner huffed, rubbing the lower half of the blade with his thumb as he held it firmly.

"Not bad, I gotta admit it," Demyx commented, rubbing his chin. Roxas still turned and yelled at him to shut up.

Larxene remained stunned, holding a hand over the stab wound, then finally glared at Hayner, letting go of it. It looked as if it were already partially healed.

"Ha, right, like I really felt that!" She took a rude stomp towards the group, yet she no longer dared to advance towards them as she had been. The cut that Hayner had given her didn't seem to do even a fraction of the damage it looked like it would have done to a normal person, yet it was still enough to surprise her. "Fine, why don't we pick up this conversation at a different time?"

"Yeah, what she said," Demyx said to them somewhat lamely. "Later, man." Then, before disappearing, he shook his head to himself and rubbed his forehead, saying to himself, "Dang, I am still so not cut out for this gig…"

First Demyx, then followed by a very miffed-looking Larxene, the two unwanted guests finally disappeared into two separate cyclones of humming darkness, and the three boys were left standing alone.

After a moment of silence, each one still with their back to at least one other, Hayner turned to them both and said with a huge smile, "How was I?"

Roxas didn't reply right away, but looked at his knife.

"That's a special tool, Hayner," was all Roxas said. "Don't lose it."

"Huh?" Hayner asked, now somewhat confused.

"Eh, what he means to say is…" Sora rubbed the back of his neck, smiling awkwardly. "…You were awesome! That was completely skilled for a beginner!"

"You think so?" Hayner replied hopefully. He was staring at Sora with clenched fists and an expression of overwhelming joy.

"Yeah, I think so too," Roxas admitted, "but…"

"What about it?" Hayner asked again, now suspicious.

"…Maybe later. I'm still not sure myself." Roxas sighed, rubbing his eyes and sitting down on the seat he had been on before. He was displeased to find it was already cold. "Anyway, in the meantime, I've had totally more tension than I can take on this schedule. I need to get some sleep."

"Same here. That conflict was really out of nowhere," Sora agreed, and Hayner nodded as well.

"I'll need a lot more than one hour of sleep if things are going to be like this for now on," Hayner told them.

So, with the train slowly beginning to move itself along once more, all three of the friends shut their eyes and, in the comfort of one another's company, they each fell asleep.

-,-,-

"Hey, I think I see something!"

"Wait, I don't think this looks right; are we lost?"

"How could we be lost?! We're on a train, stupid!"

All three of them quarreled nervously after waking up as the train chugged at its steady pace towards some sort of swirling vortex of darkness. Sora knew that, at the end of the train's route, as well as at the beginning, it had to pass through a black hole that warped it to its next closest destination, but this one looked different. The closer to it they got, the worse they began to argue and feel inside.

"Did those two change the train route?" Hayner asked the others, who still argued in reply. "I mean, that'd explain why it stopped…!"

"How can you change a train's route?!" Roxas snapped back. "It's a train, you guys! It can't be…!"

At last, when they were nearly on top of it, Roxas and Sora looked at eachother with panicked expressions, knowing with every instinct in their body that something wasn't quite right. Hayner looked at them both with a worried expression, and just as everything felt like it were being sucked forward, all three braced onto eachother, linking arms as if knowing they were going to be lurched off their feet. Last time it had been a smooth transition, but something told them it wouldn't be this time.

Suddenly, Roxas, Sora, and Hayner could all be heard yelling in horrified unison as they fell through a moment of complete darkness. When they landed, each one having their breath knocked from them as they hit unseen ground, they lie in a heap and adjusted their eyes to figure out where they were.

The train was completely gone.

Now, the place they were in looked much like Twilight Town, yet it was also much darker. At the time it appeared to be night, and they could see large neon signs and unique light decorations that surrounded the area. Large doors could be seen on several sides of the area, and even to someone new it looked like there were countless hidden alleyways around each corner just waiting to be explored. Though Sora had expected it to be strangely empty, there were people scattered here and there, talking with eachother as they walked towards their next destination casually.

It was Traverse Town!

Sora sat up, recognizing that they were in the middle of the Third District, and Hayner was the last to catch his breath as they glanced around in awe.

"What happened to the train?!" Hayner said, standing and looking around. "Is this where that Yen Sid is?"

"No, not even close," Sora said, his heart beginning to pound. "This is that town I told you guys about on the train—we're in Traverse Town!"

Thoughts rushed quickly through the brunette Keybearer's head; Cid, a Gummi Ship expert, was at the Radiant Garden formerly known as "Hallow Bastion", as well as Leon, Yuffie, and Merlin. Everyone from Twilight Town that Sora had known prior was now gone to some other world.

"Well, what's wrong?" Hayner asked them, also looking around nervously. "Are we stranded here?"

"I hate to say it," Sora replied grudgingly, "but I think we are, or at least until we can get one of those Organization members to show up and help us. Roxas, don't you remember how to…?"

Roxas shook his head hopelessly.

"It wasn't me who got you guys to Twilight Town, remember?" he said to them. "It was Riku. He opened the portal for us; all I remember is how to find my way through. It was thanks to him that we could even get there in the first place."

"Fine," Sora said at last, stomping and crossing his arms. "This is what they wanted, isn't it? Well, if they want to mess with me, then I'll just wait until they show up so I can set them straight."

"I dunno," Hayner said, looking around once more. He did his best to absorb all of his surroundings. Roxas, by the looks of it, was already acting as if he knew his way around. Was it because he knew everything Sora did? Or was he just that much better than Hayner?

Hayner had to try to make sure he looked good next to his two more experienced friends.

"You know, I'm just going to go hang around in the First District for a little while," Roxas said to them, turning in the direction of a set of tall doors that would lead him to his next destination. "I need time to think." After a moment, he looked at them again and asked, "Well, are you guys coming?"

"What're we going to do there, though?" Sora asked with an unhappy tone in his voice. "We can't just sit around at the diner while we wait for something to happen!!"

"Watch me," Roxas said casually over his shoulder.

After several moments, Hayner and Sora ran and caught up with him.

"Hey," Roxas said to them with a surprisingly calm expression, "it's better than waiting around the Third District until a bunch of Heartless come along, isn't it? Even if there are people here, who knows?"

"I guess, but…" Sora cut himself off. "We need to figure out a way to get out of here."

"PFFT, who cares? I'm so tired right now…" Roxas followed with a yawn, shrugging Sora off and causing an angry expression to fill Sora's face.

"Have you forgotten about Naminé and Kairi?!" the brunette yelled.

Roxas froze at the sound of Naminé's name. Forget?

At last, turning to Sora, he said, "Listen, how could I forget, I mean…" He shrugged. "I'm just as tense as you are right now," he continued, now standing in front of Sora with a look of concern. "But if I don't get something to eat, then I won't have much of anything to worry about ever again."

Sora sighed deeply. "After all this time…She was finally back with me again…"

Roxas could feel a heavy blanket of sadness wrap itself around the group, weighing itself mostly on Sora but filtering through to Roxas with images of Naminé instead of Kairi. He couldn't stand to see his other self like this, nor could Hayner, apparently.

"Aw, you look more tired than me right now; why don't we go check out what they have for hotels around here?" Both of them grabbed Sora's arm and began to pull him towards the First District as Hayner added, "Don't worry, it'll be fine. You can trust me."

"I sure hope so," Sora said as they dragged him along.

If it hadn't been for Roxas tripping and causing Sora to laugh, then they may have remained in this mood for the rest of the night.

-,-,-

"You know what, I…" Roxas said while waking up the next morning, and then he looked outside. "…Why is it still dark out?"

Sora just laughed.

"It's usually dark here," he replied to his friend, grabbing his small, short-sleeved jacket from the bedside as he did. Roxas had just woken up and was still barefoot in only his black t-shirt and a pair of shorts that he'd grabbed. Hayner was the slowest of all of them, still lying across the bed comfortably with one shirtless arm hanging off and the blankets draped partly over his body.

"Ugh, put a shirt on," Roxas said, laughing and throwing a pillow at Hayner. "Either that or start working out more!"

Hayner just grabbed the pillow and used it to cover his head.

"…Hayner," Sora said, this time giving it a shot himself. "It's time to get up; you'll miss breakfast if you don't!"

They had to listen carefully to translate the series of muffled mumbles that they heard Hayner reply with.

"It's still dark outside," Sora and Roxas finally agreed that was what Hayner had said.

"Didn't you listen?" Roxas said. "It's always dark here. Rise and shine, bud!"

When Hayner only rolled over, continuing to mumble while still covering his head with the pillow Roxas had thrown at him, both Sora and Roxas smirked at one another, then leaped onto the bed in a fit of boyish laughter, jumping on it until Hayner sat up, yelling at them.

"Wow, now you really need to put on a shirt!" Sora laughed at their friend.

"FINE, I'm up," Hayner spat, groggily shoving on his shirt and socks. "Where's breakfast, anyway?"

"I told Sora we'd be meeting in the First District again." Roxas rubbed his face with a towel to wake himself up more, then tossed it onto the back of the bed. He didn't feel like a shower at the moment. Maybe later, he thought.

"Wait, aren't we in the First District?" Hayner asked, confused.

"Second, sorry."

"Aw, man, my brain hurts now." Their friend collapsed back into the heap of covers once more, his head buried in the piles of soft, tempting blankets that were still warm from him lying on them all night. Sora and Roxas shook their heads, then purposely began to talk about what they thought they might do that day, including defeating a whole bunch of strong Heartless, traveling to some other world, and possibly even rescuing the girls.

All three were ready in no time.

-,-,-

"This place is nice," Hayner said, looking around Traverse Town admiringly as small, dignified groups of people talked delicately next to the carved wooden houses that could have been any number of years old. "It really is like Twilight Town, except ancient."

"You like it, then?" Sora smiled. He felt as if he were showing off his hometown, though he knew very well that Destiny Island would always be his true home.

"Yeah…" Hayner drifted off, trying in another unsuccessful attempt to draw in every possible sight he could lay his eyes on. The opportunity of seeing a place as new and different as Traverse Town was an incredible opportunity for someone like him, and he knew it.

Suddenly they saw something appearing in the middle of the First District, and when they looked around to see if anyone else saw it, they not only couldn't see anyone, but it also felt oddly quiet, as if time itself had stopped.

"Uh-oh, I know this feeling," Roxas said, clenching his fists.

"Whatever it is," Sora replied, as the Keyblade appeared in his hands, "I'm ready for it."

It was Axel, and this time he wasn't smiling.

"Hey, no offense to any of you," he said to them cautiously while coming a bit closer. "But I'm in no mood to play around with you guys."

"Then what is it?" Roxas said through gritted teeth.

"Well, with an expression like that, I think it's safe to say I already know the answer anyway…"

"Just spit it out!"

Sora turned in alarm to Roxas, who looked as angry as ever. He was now holding two Keyblades, the famous dark Oblivion in his right hand and the equally well-known (to many, at least) Oathkeeper to his left. Each one was held so tightly in Roxas' hands that Sora and Hayner could see the consistency of Roxas' breathing just by watching the movement of the Keyblades.

"Woa, I was just asking if we could be friends again, that's all." Axel tried to look almost as alarmed as Sora and Hayner were.

"Friends?" Roxas sneered quietly. "Why should I trust you again? You basically abandoned me!"

"Hey, who abandoned who? And besides, I'm ready to help you," Axel replied to him. "You always think I'm some sort of…monster. But no more than you are, Roxas."

"That's a lie!!" Roxas yelled as he took a stomp forward, glaring at Axel with fury in his eyes. He seemed so upset that Sora tried putting his hand on Roxas' shoulder gently, as if this would be enough to calm him even slightly.

"Hey, cool down, alright?" Sora said to Roxas in a soft tone. "What if…he really is okay?"

"I don't care, he can still go screw himself for all I care." Though Roxas' reply wouldn't have made it seem so, he was beginning to calm down somewhat.

And, having known the blonde as long as he had, Axel could see this.

"Hey, how about this, since you already hate me so much," the flaring red head began calmly; "You and I'll have a match. If I win—"

"Which you won't, so moving on," Roxas interrupted.

Axel ignored him.

"If I win, then we'll be allies. Not too much to ask now, is it?" The pyro held out his arms as if offering peace. Roxas made no response.

Their intruder sighed after another moment. "And if I lose…"

"Wait, Roxas," Sora said quietly, trying to remind him to ask if Axel could just get them to the Radiant Garden. But Roxas had his own comeback ready, and if he heard Sora, he showed no sign of it.

"If you lose you'll get out of my life, once and for all," Roxas said portentiously. "Though I don't think you'll have much choice at that point."

"Alright, if that's the way you want it!!" The darkly-dressed enemy was suddenly as flared up as the element he preferred. It was as if the spontaneous combustion that took effect all over the area was affecting his mood as well. Sora knew it was quite the opposite.

Hayner watched with wide eyes the entire time. Roxas was the first to make a move as Axel twirled his two circular fire-lances around himself, all at a speed so fast that much of it was beyond Hayner's visual comprehension. Roxas leapt back and forth, performing a series of combinations that involved both Keyblades at once and caused even Sora's eyes to widen tensely. His hands were burning to go out and join his other side, yet he knew this was Roxas' fight, and unless Axel went truly insane and summoned a legion of Assassins, Sora was staying put.

Suddenly, so fast that Sora was almost positive it was an illusion, Roxas was wearing the same clothes as Axel; black leather and a hood that trailed behind him as he soared through the air with a demented gleam in his eye. Both Keyblades held behind him for a brutal attack, and the golden red flames reflected realistically off the thick black leathery material that waved around his own Nobody.

His vision of Roxas was gone nearly instantly, but still, Sora was almost sure he saw it.

"C'mon, is that really all you've got?" Roxas taunted loudly in the meantime, his breath a heavy purr. Axel's face was a mixture between a look of concern, as if he were afraid to hurt Roxas, and a look of someone seeking revenge. Axel narrowed his eyes, then held his arms out and began twirling his chakrams, followed by an amazing act of cunning as he whirled them around himself and flung them at Roxas in turn, not once letting even a finger get in the way of his perfect acrobatic twirling routine so that it might slow the force of impact.

Roxas was able to cross the Keyblades in front of himself and brace himself as the first one hit, but after being knocked backwards slightly, he was unprepared for the second half of the attack and was sent flying backwards, inches from the wall of flames that surrounded the area they were in. Only the area where Sora and Hayner stood was untouched by flames, but nobody was going near Sora anytime soon.

"Oof-!" Roxas hit the ground hard, dropping one of his Keyblades in the process. He listened in dismay as the sound of his Keyblade hitting the ground clattered far beyond his reach, and he leaped up with the one he had, not daring to take his eye off of Axel long enough to retrieve the lost weapon. It would be in his hand soon enough, yet not before Axel was suddenly in his face, pushing him towards the wall of flames with nothing but Roxas' remaining Keyblade Oathkeeper protecting him from the sharp, flaming chakram already back in his enemy's grip. Roxas shook with effort as the much larger opponent leaned forth with all his might.

If Roxas' grip or the Keyblade gave, he would either be impaled by one of the many sharp, searing spears on Axel's weapon that was currently wedged between the two necks on Oathkeeper or he would be thrust through the wall of hellish flames searing his back.

"Give it up," Axel said to him, taking even more from his sudden advantage. He and Roxas were now eye to eye, staring into eachother's gazes with their own piercing expressions. "I ask to be your friend. For one more chance. But instead you ask me to do this!" Fury filled Axel's eyes where pleading had been just moments before. Roxas glared up, and they could all see that his teeth were clenched so hard that they shook, just as he was with the effort of holding Axel back. Despite his strength, he could still feel his feet skidding backwards slowly, while his arms still shook.

"Roxas!" Hayner yelled from the side, taking a step forward as if he were about to dash over and help his friend. A short set of stairs and an equally short brick wall at the top separated Sora and Hayner from the fight, yet jumping down either would take no effort at all.

Yet as Hayner stepped forward, Sora put his hand on Hayner's chest, a grave look of seriousness in his eye as he continued to watch the fight.

"Don't worry," Sora said with his head lowered slightly. "Roxas isn't done yet. Trust me."

Meanwhile, just as Sora said this to Hayner, Roxas glared back at Axel and managed to say through clenched teeth, "If you wanted another chance, you shouldn't have thrown away the first so quickly…And next time don't piss me off by messing with Naminé!"

As the blonde spoke, the glowing outline of the other Keyblade lying nearby began to take shape in his hand, and with his last strength, he let go of Oathkeeper with his second hand so he could cross it with his left hand against the other Keyblade to form a shield.

Finally, with his last bit of remaining strength, Roxas used both to send Axel flying. Sweat dripped down his forehead and along his face and arms from the heat of the flames burning so closely to him, and the two Keyblades dangled in his arms as he crouched at his end of the battle field with his legs apart, breathing heavily.

Axel, shaking as much as Roxas was, finally stood. The gleam in his eye was gone, and he was holding out one hand in a gesture for Roxas to stop.

The blonde only continued to stand and glare, ready to slice Axel in two were he to make a sudden move.

"Hey, you win, okay?" the Organization member said at last, holding up his other hand. The flames surrounding the area disappeared, and Axel was already backing away.

"Don't you dare think of running now," Roxas threatened in a deep voice.

"Who says I'm running?" Axel was suddenly smiling. "I'm just taking a time out, that's all. I have too many pretty girls waiting on me to waste any more time on you losers."

And with that he was gone.

"R-r-ARGH!!" Roxas flung his darker Keyblade at Axel as he disappeared in a familiar wisp of darkness, yet by the time it reached its destination Axel was gone, and Sora and Hayner were running down towards him.

As soon as he caught the Keyblade, taking a step backwards as the momentum grabbed him, Roxas let it fall from his hand and he dropped to his knees and hands, the other Keyblade still clenched in one fist. Just as the two weapons dissolved into light, the people who had been standing nearby before the encounter returned from nowhere in particular and continued chatting contentedly.

"Roxas!" Sora crouched by Roxas and looked at him with worry in his eyes. "Are you okay? Do you feel alright?"

"Oh, just great," Roxas replied sarcastically, still trying to catch his breath. When he tried to stand, his legs buckled at first, yet he waited a moment and tried again successfully.

"Let's just get something to drink," Hayner said to Roxas as the exausted party member bowed his head and rubbed at his temples. "After that, you need a break. You did awesome, by the way! I really did teach you well," Hayner finished with a smug smile.

"You think so?" was all Roxas replied, barely playing along.

Later on all three were sitting at the tables of one of the outdoor restaurants that was set up nearby, each one with his own drink in front of him. The sky was somewhat lighter now, yet it still felt like a cloudy day.

"Hey, isn't it ever light here?" Roxas asked one person walking by after randomly turning.

"Only for an hour or so during noon," the girl replied. "Don't I know you?"

Roxas strained his memory as they looked at eachother.

"I…don't think so," Roxas said finally, then suddenly snapped his fingers. "Hey, wait, Sora! Check it out, it's Aerith!"

"Yes, Sora," the girl replied, looking at the brunette sitting at the table. She had brown bangs, wore pink, and had a long braided ponytail that traveled past the length of her back. Her expression was one of the calmest they had ever seen, and her voice matched. "I suppose you two must be related."

When Sora looked over from telling Hayner something, he nearly spilled his drink in surprise.

"Is Leon and Yuffie here?" Sora asked hopefully, paying no attention to her question. "We need to talk to Cid; we're on another journey and we need a new Gummi Ship!"

"Another journey?" she asked, her expression almost dull and her voice vague. She spoke slowly, as if taking her time with each word. "You should spend more time at home. It's not healthy to be traveling to other worlds so much."

Sora, Roxas, and Hayner looked at eachother, and Sora replied, "We know."

"I'll talk to Leon. I'm not sure how long he's staying here. I just came with to see Traverse Town again. It's strange…My home has been in The Radiant Garden, but a part of me still feels like this is home as well, even though I only stayed here for a little while." Aerith continued to display her calm disposition in an expert manner that forced Hayner to hold a strong feeling of respect towards her. "I suppose this is just one of those places…"

"Hey, don't worry, we'll just come with right now!" Sora jumped up excitedly as she began to turn. A grin had formed across his face already; they wouldn't be stuck here anymore, plus he was going to see some of his old friends!

"…You may as well," their acquaintance said at last. "Alright, just follow me."

She began walking, leading them through the large group of scattered tables set up so she could bring the group to Leon, but not before Roxas ran back to the table, chugged the rest of his drink, and clattered through the tight area clumsily to catch up with them.

-,-,-

"Leon!"

Sora, followed by an almost equally excited Roxas and a hesitant Hayner, ran into the hotel room that was just down the hall from their own.

"Hm?" Leon looked up from reading a newspaper bulletin and watched oddly as Sora led by Aerith and followed by two new blondes walked into the room. "Sora, well if this isn't a surprise…Where are Donald and Goofy?"

"They left with the king," Sora said, still smiling, though some of the gleam seemed to have escaped from his eyes. "So I guess they're at Disney Castle right now. D'you think you could give us a ride there?"

Hayner couldn't help but think Sora was being a bit too casual about it, even if he did know Leon.

"Sorry," Leon said, surprising Hayner with an equally casual reply. "We're going straight to The Radiant Garden after this. We just had to pick up something Cid left here at his Gummi Shop. Maybe you can talk to him about getting yourself a ship you can use."

This seemed logical, but…

"Wait," Sora said. "We're stranded here; we got here by accident. How…how're we all going to get to The Radiant Garden, then? We'll never all fit in your ship!"

"You know, I'm willing to make two trips for you guys," Leon said, somewhat laid back.

"Two trips?" Sora cried. "Just like that? But that's—!"

"I still owe you for making Hallow Bastion safer," Leon said. His face, like usual, was a serious, concrete mask that looked like it had the ability to laugh yet usually didn't. "I'll tell you what; you three can argue who's the first to go, since only one seat is left in the ship now. The next trip I'll bring the other two."

He left them to go talk to Aerith quietly about something, leaving the three boys to consult with eachother.

"I want to be first," Roxas said right away, turning to Sora and Hayner.

"That's alright," Sora said, smiling. "You're a bit more used to Gummi Ships than Hayner is, and I've been to The Radiant Garden before. I can go with him so he feels better."

"I don't need you babysitting me," Hayner said with a disgusted look on his face.

"Yes, so I get to go first!" Roxas said, clenching his fists excitedly.

"I think it's more like ladies first," Hayner mumbled while turning away.

Roxas rolled his eyes and commented, "Aw, you're just jealous."

"Decided yet?" Leon came back over to them. He was taller than any one of them there, including Aerith—though not by much.

"Yeah, Roxie's going first," Hayner said, now just teasing his friend.

"Hey!" Roxas grabbed the other blonde in a friendly headlock and began to noogie him.

"Ouch, hey, stop it!" Hayner said, and after he was released, both laughed and began to pick on eachother.

"Be nice, all of you," Leon said, gesturing towards Roxas to come with him. "I'll be back in less than a day or so, so be ready."

"Less than a day?!" Hayner said, stunned. "They must go fast!"

"Wait until you ride one," Sora said, holding in his own excitement to be back in space travel. This time would be different; he had never ridden one without just Donald, Goofy, and himself. Sora hadn't let anyone else drive for a long time, either.

"Well, see you at that garden place," Hayner called, and Sora laughed and reminded him, "It's the Radiant Garden."

"Right," Hayner said, somewhat embarrassed. He hoped he wasn't acting too slow; the last thing he was trying to do was come across as stupid when compared to the two more experienced friends whom he was trying harder than ever to impress.

"See you when you get there," Roxas called to them, and then the hotel door shut itself.

-,-,-

"Now what?" Hayner looked at Sora, a bored glaze in his eyes. The other friend just sighed.

In five minutes, they would have been waiting for over an hour in the hotel room.

"Well," Sora said finally, thinking. "We should stick around the hotel in case Leon comes back…"

"What does he mean by a day?" Hayner kept bringing on questions, mostly out of sheer boredom. "'Cuz if he means a day here, then he'll be back any minute now."

"Eh, not really," Sora sighed. "You know what, let's go grab our things from the room. I think Roxas forgot his."

"Hey, we should just leave his stuff," Hayner said.

"Naw, I wouldn't want him to leave our stuff next time."

Hayner agreed with Sora.

But when they went back to the room, they found Roxas' things already packed up and gone.

"He must've stopped by," Sora said, looking around. Then something caught the remaining blonde's eye, and Hayner went over the dresser and picked up a strange-looking anklet. It was black with three deep blue spheres strung onto the end, the one in the middle being the largest and connected to what looked like a small, silver arrowhead. He untied the square knot holding it firmly together, then wrapped it around his fingers in various ways to entertain himself.

"Hey, what'd you find?" Sora asked him, coming over.

"Just some kind of bracelet," Hayner replied casually, still fiddling with it.

"Oh, that's a Dark Anklet," Sora said, taking it from him suddenly. "You wear these to boost up your defense, especially from dark magic attacks."

"What?!" Hayner grabbed the small anklet back from Sora, staring at him with an odd expression that seemed to ask if he were crazy. "How does something like this"—he shook it in front of Sora's face—"help defend someone from anything?!"

"I don't know, why did your knife cut Roxas and not you?" Sora asked him, using reverse psychology.

"I don't know. 'Cause he sucks?"

"Um, well I don't think that wearing this makes you, er, suck less," Sora said, straining his mind lamely for a way to tie both Hayner's question and Sora's example together. "But anyway, sometimes you just can't explain something. You can guess, though."

"Hm," Hayner pondered the question as he took the bracelet-like object back.

"Put it on," Sora said to the blonde, smiling. "Trust me, it helps."

Hayner listened, deciding he might as well. After all, it probably was Roxas' anklet in the first place, and anything to get even with him for getting to ride the Gummi Ship first made him happy.

"Okay," Sora said as Hayner tied the final knot. A zipper was heard, and when he looked up, Sora was slinging his backpack over his shoulder. Hayner still had a lot of packing to do, yet he had a feeling he had a lot of time to pack as well.

"Kay, just wait," he said, jumping up to start grabbing his things and shoving them in his own camouflage backpack.

"I would fold them," Sora said, frowning as he studied Hayner shove a pair of pants into a large pocket. "Here, let me show you."

Hayner decided to humor Sora by watching him as he took the pair of pants and showed Hayner how to fold them sideways, then lie them on the bed and roll them into a tight cylinder shape. After taking it back, it did seem a bit lighter.

"What's the point of that?" he asked, not wanting to admit he found any interest whatsoever in the cloth-folding process.

"It takes off a lot of weight, and it gives you a whole lot of room for important things."

"Clothes aren't important?" Hayner asked, somewhat in awe and somewhat just to force Sora into using the longest sentences possible to be annoying.

"You'll learn what I mean later on," Sora said with a smile. "Here, wanna try folding a couple of shirts together? Why'd you bring so many clothes, anyway?" Sora asked as he grabbed one shirt off the foot of the bed and another off the back of the old oaken desk chair.

"Who knows, what if one got all bloody?" Hayner said, trying to sound casual.

Sora couldn't help to laugh, and it took until they were finished folding clothes before he could stop. Hayner never did figure out what was so funny.

-,-,-

Standing outside in front of the hotel with their two bags, Sora and Hayner decided to sit on the ledge of a small brick wall that was, like in the First District, separating the ground they were standing on from another level of ground several feet down. While sitting on the short brick wall, they could feel the wind blowing past in front of them, and behind them they could hear the noise of some people inside the hotel.

"This place is much calmer than it was last time I was here," Sora told Hayner as they waited. The sky had already grown dark, though it was only 3:15 in the afternoon. Sora could swear he saw something moving way up in the sky, and he wondered if it meant their ride was there. He kept it to himself finally, deciding that if it was Leon, he would come and get them anyway.

"What do you mean, it's calmer?" Hayner asked him, looking around as he kicked his feet back and forth against the front of the brick wall. "You mean it didn't used to be a place too boring for even dead people to live in—?"

"It used to always be night here."

Hayner's head turned sharply to look at Sora, and he saw his friend was staring straight ahead with a tense expression as if lost in thought about something dangerous, a burden.

It was several moments before Sora asked him, "Have you ever seen a Heartless, Hayner?"

"A Heartless?" He was confused. The name struck an incredibly familiar image, and he'd heard it in conversation many times; then again, he could just be thinking of his aunt.

"A Heartless is something with no heart. Its only goal is to go around, stealing the hearts of other people and creating more Heartless. Almost every one of them used to be a person once."

"Are they those things that used to bother Roxas?" Hayner asked intently.

"Do you know what happens when someone with a strong heart becomes a Heartless?" Sora asked, turning to him while seemingly changing the subject. He still had a vague expression on, yet this time it looked almost sad.

Hayner remained silent, not wanting to stall the brunette's story with a pointless response when he knew the answer was coming.

"When someone like that loses their heart, their mind becomes a Heartless, and yet they leave behind something else too…A Nobody."

"A…Nobody?" Hayner looked confused, yet ready to learn.

"They don't have hearts, but they can think," Sora said, then paused. Looking away, he said, "One special one once told me that…even though they may not have hearts, sometimes they remember what it was like to have one. Hayner, do you think it's possible to teach Nobodies how to have hearts?"

Though Sora knew that Hayner still had an incredible amount to learn before he understood even half of what he had said, Hayner's reply was encouraging.

"I think everyone has a heart," Hayner replied. "As long as they understand what it means to have one and they know how to love."

Sora nodded, and both were silent for another moment.

"Hey, I think I see Leon," Sora said, then grabbed his bag from the brick sidewalk behind them and jumped down onto the lower brick landing. They ran over to where they saw Leon and, with excitement and anticipation filling them to the brim, the previous discussion was forgotten.

-,-,-,-