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 3:

Radient Garden (part 1)

By Nagori Kirashi

"Alright, ready for take-off?" Leon asked, turning to Sora and Hayner as they all buckled into the seats of the Gummi Ship. "I heard this is your first trip in a Gummi, Hayner."

"Yeah," Hayner said, shrugging casually as he fastened his seatbelt with a click. However, he couldn't hide the look of excitement in his eyes.

"Alright, well, everyone had better be buckled in." Leon started up the huge, sleek ship. The entire world seemed to begin shaking, the enormous engine causing their teeth to vibrate as it rose into the air.

Suddenly they were taking off, flying forward at an amazing speed. The ship was no longer shaking, and everything had become much smoother, now that it wasn't struggling to lift itself straight up against the forces of gravity. Though it was clear then that they were in for a smooth ride, it took Sora and Hayner several moments before they were able to lift their heads up from being pinned against the back of the tall seats.

Becoming one with the ship's momentum that was still trying to pull them all backwards, Hayner was finally able to tilt his head and look out the small, half-covered dome of glass above his head that revealed what was outside the ship. Everything seemed quiet, and the engine was all but a distant hum. Sora could barely imagine how loud it was outside the massive transportation unit.

"We'll be there in an hour or so," Leon said, turning his head to look at the other two. Hayner was entranced by the amazing scenery that filled the area they were flying through. Who knew that space had its own landscape?

"You can thank Sora for us being here right now," Leon commented, intent on driving the ship as he spoke. "It's thanks to him that all these worlds are connected."

Hayner just continued to gawk out the curved window in response. It was all too much for him to take in at once.

Maybe he was glad he had gone after all.

Yet in the other seat, Sora sat tensely, staring ahead as the ship was flung forward deeper into space. He couldn't forget why they were there.

-,-,-

After landing on Radient Garden, Hayner was in a daze. He stumbled about clumsily as he tried to regain his footing on the ground.

"Woa," he said. "That was incredible! Can we do it again?"

"Trust me," Leon laughed, causing Sora to look at him in surprise before also laughing. "You'll get plenty of chances to ride one of those in the future."

"I sure hope so," Hayner said, walking in a lop-sided formation. When he regained his momentum, he took in his new surroundings.

"…What is this place?" he asked himself in awe.

"Welcome to the Radiant Garden," Leon declared calmly, hearing Hayner's quiet remark.

If Hayner had thought that Traverse Town was different, it was still nothing compared to the alien world he now stood in. Though there was still plenty of evidence of regular society there that he was used to, the ground itself—what wasn't covered by brick or concrete on the streets—was made up of a beautiful, blue ice-like crystal that almost seemed to reflect its blue hue upon everything else. The crystal, when he got the chance later to touch it, seemed as if it would freeze the tips of his fingers off, yet felt no colder than regular earth did. He was speechless.

As they walked down the street, Hayner jolted to a stop and stared at a Moogle floating level with his head. "I know these," he said proudly as it stared at him with its small eyes, then ran down the unfamiliarly blue street to catch up with the others.

When they entered a small house that Leon had referred to as "Merlin's study", Sora saw Yuffie standing next to Cid and another certain blonde that they had departed with not long ago.

"Roxas!" Sora ran over to him, and both shared a goofy smile and laughed while exchanging a series of complicated handshakes.

"Hey, was it fun?" Roxas asked the third member of their party with a gleam in his eye.

"You bet!" Instead of a handshake, Hayner and Roxas just pounded eachother's fist, both secretly trying to make the other's fist hurt.

"Hey, I heard ya got some questions 'bout borrowin' a Gummi Ship?" Cid lumbered over to the group, and Hayner, more than a foot shorter than him, seemed to shrink back uncomfortably. "Now, don't mind me askin' here, but what's yer' name again?"

Hayner looked over at Leon next and said, "Hey, I don't think I ever told you either!"
"Aw, Leon's not the kind to ask questions sometimes," Yuffie giggled. "I'm Yuffie, by the way."

"Th' name's Cid," said the Gummi expert.

"And I'm sure you've figured out that I'm Leon by now," said the subdued adult. "Or I would hope you have, anyway."

"Yeah, I'm Hayner," said the native from Twilight Town, trying to mimic Leon's thoughtful behavior. "But I'm sure you figured that out by now, too."

"I know…" Leon replied with a deep, grave tone, and suddenly he had his shoulder to Hayner, had placed his left arm on his right elbow, bowed his head, and had placed two of his right fingers on his forehead as if deep in thought.

"Uh, are you alright?" Hayner asked.

Aerith replied, "Don't worry, like Yuffie said, Leon doesn't ask very many questions. He'd rather figure it out for himself."

"No," Leon said, still looking as if he were oblivious to the others physically and attention-wise. "Roxas told me everything, though…Except one thing. Sora," he said, turning. "How did you and Roxas get separated?"

Sora stood silent for a moment, caught off-guard from the question.

"Well," he said, taking a long time to answer. "It sort of just happened…At first it was in me and Kairi's dreams…Then we would start to see glimpses of eachother, and one day we kind of just…parted."

Leon stood facing Sora and Roxas with his back to the others as if respecting Sora's privacy for the next question. However, Leon still stood upright with his usual expression that suggested he himself didn't care who heard him.

"Do you think your heart parted, too," he finally asked knowledgeably, "…or is he still just like before; a pure Nobody, you might say?"

This question began to make Sora and Roxas feel somewhat uncomfortable.

"I…don't know," Sora replied. He was at a loss for words. "Maybe you could tell us."

"Well, I'm not completely sure," the composed Leon replied to Sora, "but I suspect that it has to do with their special creation. He and Naminé aren't normal in any way, and with a will that's based after yours, Sora, I really think that's too much to contain in one person once it's been let out."

Roxas wanted to blurt out that he was standing right there, and not surprisingly, so did Sora.

"I guess," Sora said finally, sinking deeply into his own thought. While he had asked Roxas about it many times, he never had been able to get much of a response from him. It was as if Roxas knew he wasn't where he belonged and was afraid to answer in case he might be revealed as selfish or misbehaved.

"By the way, Roxas," Aerith began in her slow, soft voice. "If you don't have a heart, then, do you still have feelings?"

"Hey, you told her too?!" Sora looked at his other self, quite stunned. Who would brag about not having a heart?

"No, I didn't—!" Roxas denied it with an expression of alarm that suggested he was more concerned about Sora's feelings toward the matter than he was about the others actually knowing. "I swear I didn't!"

"He evaded too many questions about who he really is," Leon said. "He let a few comments slip, too, and I'm not surprised she caught it all." He nodded towards the admirably mute girl.

Roxas sighed and admitted he had told them both quite a bit.

"So? Do you?" the tall girl asked again quietly.

"Of course I do!" Roxas said right away. "…I guess."

Yuffie laughed, then tousled the confused blonde's spiked hair. "Why wouldn't you, silly?"

"You need a heart to feel emotion," Leon said, a little too bluntly. That's when it clicked with Yuffie.

"Wait, you're actually a…Nobody?" she said softly, taking Roxas by the shoulders gently and gazing into his sapphire blue eyes. "Like you really don't have a…?"

No one said anything, including Roxas, until he said at last, "I used to be a part of the Organization, back then they called me Number Thirteen. I…I'm Sora's Nobody."

Yuffie just gazed at him in silence.

-,-,-

There wasn't much happening in the Radient Garden that day, and while Sora and Cid confronted eachother about the use of a Gummi Ship at Cid's recently vacant shop nearby, Roxas and Hayner were desperate for something to do.

"Hey, why don't we go look around?" Hayner asked, studying an ant that was crawling up the side of the old, wooden dresser. He poked it, then watched it fall to the ground and clamber desperately onto its feet. "Maybe we can find something better than this to do."

"Meaning better than nothing?" Roxas commented more than anything while leaning back on the bed and counting the books in Merlin's vast stack that took up the center of the room.

"Yeah," Hayner agreed, finally stepping on the ant after nearly killing it twice already. "We should ask first, though."

Just then, Yuffie walked in.

"Hey, boys," she said to them, walking in with a huge Yuffie smile on her face. Glancing at Roxas in the corner of her eye, she opened her mouth, then closed it again. Finally she asked, "Is anyone hungry?"

"I'm good," Hayner said absently, now intent on just staring into space.

"Can we go outside and look around?" Roxas asked. "Not that we actually need your permission or anything…"

Yuffie took this somewhat as a threat, and her face took on a look of discomfort as she hesitated before responding. "Well," she said, "if you go anywhere, I should maybe come with in case you get lost."

"Where's Leon?" Roxas asked. "And Aerith?"

"They're with Cid, why?"

"Just wondering."

After a moment, all three of them finally ventured outside, and as they did, Hayner was horrified to see some unknown shape begin to emerge from the ground.

"Heartless!" Yuffie cried.

The small creature, so dark that Hayner couldn't even depict its limbs when they were held up together, lashed its long antennae around while it stood before the group. Its two yellow orb-like eyes stared up at him blankly, as if it lived for only one purpose and it would stop only at death to achieve it; something that was, as they knew, all too true.

"Hold on," Yuffie said, suddenly calm. She unleashed herself at it, and it disappeared in a puff of darkness almost instantly. A glowing heart rose from its body, then disappeared above their heads as they stared at it in silence.

"…So that's what we're up against?" Hayner asked finally. They were still standing just a foot away from their door.

"Only that time there was just one of them, and I wish that was as bad as they got," she replied. "This one is one of the weaker ones."

"You mean that one wasn't bad?" Hayner asked, now feeling a chill crawl up his skin slowly. "Man, how much worse can it get? Not like…?"

"They get pretty bad," Yuffie said to him, backing up until her back was touching the door so she could lean on it. "Another thing is while there are Heartless to deal with, there are also Nobodies."

Hayner, who recognized this name from his earlier conversation with Sora, just looked at her with his brown eyes and waited for the black-haired girl to continue.

"Only strong hearts ever create a Nobody. When a strong person loses their heart, they leave behind a kind of shell, a kind of reflection of their body that still has a will of its own." She sighed. "Even the weakest ones are stronger than some Heartless. Like the one you just saw."

"What's a Nobody look like, then?" Hayner asked, imagining a giant invisible version of the thing they had just defeated. Just then he remembered the things he was up against in Twilight Town, and the chill he was feeling moments ago returned. "Wait, I think I know…"

"Well, they're usually white, and really gravity-defying, but…if the person's heart was really strong…" Yuffie trailed her words off, glancing almost guiltily at Roxas.

Suddenly it hit Hayner, and he stepped backwards. "Roxas, wait…Earlier, when she asked you what it's like…part of the Organization…Are…is—?!," he stopped, confused by what he did and didn't know. How could a creature as vile as those things he had just seen ever look like Roxas, and vice versa? Surely he couldn't be one, too!

Roxas sighed, staring into as much of the distance as he could see. "The Organization is made up of the strongest of Nobodies. Ones that still resemble who they once were. Ones like…me."

Yuffie was now hanging her head in silence. Hayner looked from one to the other, stunned.

"I…can't believe it," he said to them, yet they remained silent.

Finally, after an awkward moment where no one still said anything, Hayner said with a much more typical tone, "…Alright, well, all that matters is that I'm leaving you slow losers behind. I have some exploring to do."

"Loser, huh?" Roxas grinned, and Yuffie giggled, more relieved than anything that someone had finally changed the subject.

"Well, where do you guys want to look around?" Yuffie asked them. "I can't show you all places of Radient Garden yet, but I can show you a lot of it if you'd like!"

"Who cares, anywhere is better than here!" one of the boys replied.

She sighed, then followed with a giggle. Roxas began to study the layout of the city as they walked, hoping he would get a chance later to grind the ledges off several concrete walls with the bottom of his skateboard.

Just as they disappeared around one side of the street, Sora, Aerith, and Leon came in order from the other street and trekked towards the house. Sora, having been the first of the ones to enter the street, thought he may have seen something going in the opposite direction.

"Hey, I think I just saw a Heartless!" Sora said tensely. "You guys wait inside; I'm gonna go check it out."

"Take your time," Leon said. "Cid won't be done with your ship for awhile. You be sure to thank him again."

"I will!" Sora yelled, looking at them over his shoulder while already running in the direction of the supposed Heartless. The Keyblade appeared in his hand as he ran, and after turning a corner, he saw instead Yuffie, Hayner, and Roxas all talking while walking towards the main bazaar.

"Hey, wait up!" Sora yelled, quickening his pace even more to catch up with them. The Keyblade disappeared from his hand once more.

"Sora?" Yuffie turned, followed by the other two who stopped as well. "Hey, we were just going to look around town! C'mon, you can come with!"

"Sure," the brunette replied, his spiky bangs waving in the air as he ran towards them. Finally he reached them, and together they headed deeper into town.

-,-,-

"Axel!"

The red-headed Organization member jumped, turning just in time to see a hooded figure standing behind him. The entire street was dark, making the figure's black clothing the perfect camouflage against any prying eyes that might happen to be watching from the darkened windows overlooking the alley. Neon lights glowed in the distance.

"What do you want?" he spat cooly, yet he still looked nervous in spite of it.

Zexion threw down his hood, revealing his light, bluish hair. His young face was heavy with tension, and he looked at the other member with a look to kill. "You're giving us a bad reputation. Look at Saïx; if he gets any more pissed at you, he's going to turn us all into Berzerkers, and I'm going to teach you a lesson when he does…regardless of my form."

Axel didn't take the threat lightly.

"You know, I honestly don't see why you have to keep messing with that boy," Zexion continued slowly. For someone as young as he was, he struck a surprisingly-mature impression. "If you keep playing with him, eventually you'll get your wish."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Axel defended.

"Don't lie to me," the other Nobody said to him. "You miss Roxas. Please…If he comes back, it's just going to be so he can finish you off. We'll manage fine without him in the Organization, I'm sure, so just leave him alone so he can keep doing his job…Before I decide to take things into my own hands."

"But he wasn't doing anything…!" Axel argued. "He was visiting Twilight Town; half of that place isn't even real! He's been playing around there for almost a month now, not 'doing his job'!"

"Then you should have left him anyway," Zexion said, glaring at Axel as he turned. With his back still to Axel, he said calmly, "Who do you think we're dealing with anyway? They would have figured out something was wrong in the universe eventually."

A dark swirling portal appeared, and he walked into it, leaving Axel to argue with himself.

"He's just jealous," he mumbled at last, turning and disappearing into his own dark portal.

Then the street was left empty, except for the wavering shadows of a few stray Dusks.

-,-,-

Several worlds away, basically next door to the fast-traveling Organization XIII, Sora, Roxas, Hayner, and Yuffie were exploring the outskirts of Radient Garden, thanks to Hayner's persistent whining.

"What is this place?" Roxas asked, looking around nervously. They were standing on the edge of a cliff made of ice-like crystal, and not far ahead of them, Hayner and Sora were continuing along at a fair pace.

"I'm going back," Yuffie said. "They must be wondering where we are by now."

"You just thought of that?!" Roxas asked, stunned.

"Yeah, well…" The taller girl gave a final carefree giggle before disappearing around the edge of a cliff's rise.

"Hey, Roxas, are you coming, or are you gonna stare down the edge of a cliff all day?" Sora yelled from almost fifty feet ahead of him.

"Y-yeah, I'm coming, hold on…" The blonde Nobody shot a last weary glance over the edge of the cliff before catching up.

"Aw, c'mon, don't tell me you're afraid now," Hayner teased, punching Roxas on the arm.

Roxas punched him back, and Sora laughed. However Sora, who knew Roxas had already seen this place at least from the back of his conscience, also knew Roxas had no reason that he knew of to be afraid of heights, so he decided to keep his eyes open for anything else that might be making his other side wary.

All at once, before they knew what was happening, they were surrounded by a dozen large creatures that were mostly grey and had long scythes on the end of their arms. Their entire bodies looked plated, and they were almost taller than the boys themselves with a familiar symbol imprinted on them.

"Armored Knights," Roxas said in a deep voice as if he was stating a comment. "They're a kind of Heartless, Hayner. Get ready."

The Keyblades appeared in his and Sora's hands, and after a moment, Hayner caught on and grabbed for his pocket. He was surprised to find that he couldn't open his pocket because his knife was already open in his hand.

"Okay, Roxas, four o' clock. Hayner, take eight o' clock. I'll go for twelve," Sora commanded to all of them. Roxas and Hayner nodded, then leaped into battle.

Suddenly life was different. Hayner felt faster, stronger, with more purpose. He'd never been in a fight where he knew it was them or him; the only fights he dominated at were the struggle battles back home. Grasping the knife tightly in his hand, it seemed to gleam in response, and was almost pulled towards the Heartless creatures. He wielded it expertly, while in the meantime Roxas and Sora were in the background, destroying the sleek Heartless at an alarming rate.

Hayner plunged the knife in the direction of a Heartless that looked particularly weak, then leaped back and stared in amazement as it evaporated in a puff of black and violet.

"I did it!" he yelled, watching as a heart rose from the swirl of blackness and disappeared about ten feet into the sky. He was staring at it as if it were a victory flag, declaring to the world his first triumph.

Hayner's achievement was soon forgotten as more Heartless showed up out of nowhere. He, Sora, and Roxas backed up so they were standing in a circle holding their weapons outwards, closing in on eachother as the Heartless drew closer.

"You guys, we can do this!" Sora encouraged. "Hayner, sit tight; we'll handle most of them!"

"No!" he yelled back stubbornly. "I can help!"

Sora had no choice, and neither did Hayner, he soon found. Roxas sprung forward, leaping towards a group of Heartless with his Keyblades pointed at several them and suddenly twirling in a 360° circle as the Keyblades whipped around with him, hitting about five Heartless at once and damaging them greatly. At the same time, Sora gripped his Keyblade and was using a series of moves that looked too fast to be humanly possible for anyone else.

If only they had fought this well against Axel. They had been too unprepared.

As Hayner tried to fend off the incoming creatures closing in around him, he wondered how on earth it was possible to keep his eye on so many at once. It seemed like for every two hits he made, he received at least one in return.

Finally he felt one jab its long scythe into his back, and with a sharp gasp, Hayner fell on the ground. Only then did he notice the Heartless walked on knife-like feet, and it was then that he thought for the first time he was dead. He felt one more hit low on his leg, and he cringed loudly.

Hayner had never felt so much pain, and he could almost feel his body draining of life. One more hit now and he would be done for. Letting go of his black-stained knife, he fumbled for his side pocket, his body pressed against the cold ground as he felt for the small container filled with the life saving remedy Sora had given him back in Twilight Town. He finally felt it and wrapped his hand around it tightly, not bothering to re-close his now empty pocket.

As he fumbled desperately for the lid, he could barely see the foggy shape of several huge, sleek Armored Knight Heartless prancing towards him as everything continued to fade. With his last remaining strength, he touched the potion to his lips, knowing somehow that it didn't matter how it was taken.

Just as he felt the soothing effects of his potion taking action on his injured body, Hayner could feel the sharp claw-like foot of one of the large Heartless pierce into his shoulder. Though it caused him to yell out loud again, it was not fatal, like he knew it would have been had he been seconds later on remembering his potion.

Now he knew what Roxas and Sora had meant by how important items could be on their journey.

"I can't waist any time," he said to himself through clenched teeth, jumping up after grabbing the knife once more. Then, with renewed strength, he set to work with more determination than ever to defeat the onslaught. Now that he had just witnessed first-hand how mindlessly intent these things really were on destroying him, nothing could stop him.

It was payback time, and Hayner forgot all about Roxas and Sora's examples and began to use his own tactics.

Finally, exausted and covered in injuries, Sora, Roxas, and Hayner gathered in the center of the area.

"Hey, are you alright?" Sora asked Hayner, who was now breathing heavily. "We were worried; we saw you go down a little bit ago."

"I'm fine," Hayner gasped, then smiled thankfully as Roxas handed him one of his own potions.

"You need it," Roxas said, an impressed grin on his face as he patted Hayner gently on his other shoulder. "And that was incredible, Hayner. I didn't know you could fight like that."

"Yeah," Hayner said, his chest swelling with pride despite his wounds.

"Heh, pretty good for a beginner," Roxas finished, patting Hayner's back and continuing forth.

Hayner looked irritated at this last remark, yet with a newfound confidence, he placed the knife back in his pocket carefully after shutting it, then closed his pocket once more.

Sora, seeing Hayner's reaction, laughed as they continued on.

-,-,-

After a while of walking, the group came to the end of the path, as far as they could go. They were standing on the edge of a rise, and though they couldn't see it, the bottom of what they stood on sloped sharply inward, creating a 70° angle holding up the cliff. The castle that Radient Garden was so famous for back when it was Hallow Bastion could be seen in the distance, and countless roofs could be seen as well. Other than that, they could see nothing but blue and white crystal for miles.

Sora remembered this place from several of his memories, none of which were the most pleasant.

"I don't like this place," Hayner said quietly, reaching for his side-pocket and placing his hand inside of it where he kept his knife. They continued walking forward, drawn towards the area as much as they felt repelled from it.

Suddenly Sora's eyes grew wide as if he had been struck in the back by something, and he fell onto his hands and knees, grasping his shirt in front of his heart. Both Hayner and Roxas yelled Sora's name, and they could see his eyes were closed and sweat was forming on his face.

Sora couldn't hear them. All he could hear was a chilling voice from the past whispering in his ear.

'…Every heart that is released by the Keyblade binds together…binds together and forms Kingdom Hearts!' Sora could almost see his face. 'It is by your hand…'

The world was growing darker, and Sora groaned in pain as countless memories and voices began to close in on him.

'Remember, you are the one that will open the door…'

"SORA!!"

Sora looked up suddenly to see the dark shape of someone appearing. The dark shape of someone they knew instantly must be someone from Organization XIII began to take form before them as they stood on the sloping crystal cliff-side, and they realized that the figure was blocking them from the only way out of the area. Sora leaped to his feet, and all three began backing away several steps, not seeming to care that were one of them to trip backwards right then they would have time to sing the alphabet before they hit the ground.

"Aw, all three together like this," said a voice familiar to Roxas. "A new group, but you look so confident with eachother now."

"Show yourself, you coward!" Sora said, stepping forward with the Keyblade held in front of him. Hayner took a brave step forward as well, grasping his mysterious knife in one hand and yelling a firm, "Yeah!" in agreement.

"I see no need in hiding," said the figure, lowering his hood. "Hello, Sora, and Roxas. Long time no see."

Roxas recognized him as Zexion, and shared this recognition with Sora through his mind. "Zexion!" Roxas yelled, throwing his fists behind himself as the Keyblades both appeared in each hand.

"Zexion…?" Sora said, his face tense as he struggled to remember a memory of his own with this shady character.

"Yes, and I see you're still the same undersized Keyblade wielder I remember," he commented carelessly to Sora. Suddenly he turned to Roxas, his blue bangs swaying slightly. Beneath them they could see his eyes set back in thought as he studied the blonde companion.

"What're you staring at?" Roxas yelled, still holding Oblivion and Oathkeeper in each hand.

"A fake, what else?" Zexion said, tilting his head and sighing as he stared at the former Organization member, deciding to toy with them. "Why is it you quit again?"

"None of your business!" Roxas was growing angry.

"What do you want, anyway?" yelled Sora angrily. "Do you know where Kairi is? Give her back! And Naminé too, and Olette!"

"What do you really expect to accomplish?" Zexion asked him. "You miss Kairi, but why go through all of this for her?"

"So…you do know where she is, then?" Sora asked, suddenly a desperate gleam in his eye while taking a small step forward. Roxas looked at Sora in the corner of his eye with distaste. He didn't like seeing his other side allowing himself to become so vulnerable; then again, Sora was his 'better' side. What more could he expect?

"Of course not," Zexion lied anyway, a smirk appearing on his face. "What a team, though…Looking at you three together almost makes me laugh."

"What's wrong with us?!" Hayner challenged next, taking a step forward.

"Please, a Nobody reject and a computer illusion?" Zexion laughed. It was a daunting laugh that sounded sincere but gave them all the chills despite of it.

"An…illusion?" Hayner asked, jerking his head backwards while a mixture of fury and confusion beginning to blend together in his face. What was up with this guy?

"You think your Twilight Town is real, do you?" Zexion asked. "Think again…I'm sure Roxas could explain for you if you still don't understand."

Suddenly Roxas' eyes were wide somewhat with horror as he realized what his former ally was talking about. A previous memory of his flashed into his mind, and he could see himself sitting beneath a large device, deeply asleep. Two figures, talking…

'If we can maintain the simulated town until Naminé finishes chaining together Sora's memories…'

Sora was also having a flashback; he remembered the Alternate Twilight Town that he had supposedly spoken to Hayner, Pence, and Olette about.

Was that where this Hayner was from?

'This is Roxas' Twilight Town…'

"…Roxas?" Hayner turned towards Roxas after a moment with an odd expression, having noticed the looks on his friends' faces. "Is that true?"

Roxas stalled for a long moment, then finally replied quietly and darkly, "…Of course not."

"So I'm…not real." Hayner said mostly to himself, his eyes now wide with shock. Hayner studied his own hands in awe, and the dark figure continued to look at them all with a smirk .

"Yes you are, of course you are!" Sora said to him, as if angry that he would believe their intruder, despite fearing and somewhat knowing himself that their enemy was right.

"No body, no heart, and no soul," Zexion repeated, seeing that he had hit a sensitive point. "Nothing but a holographic computer illusion. Sure, modeled after real hearts, but still, nothing but."

"He is too real…!" Sora yelled, taking a bold step forward with his fists clenched. "He has a heart, just like Roxas! They say Nobodies don't have hearts either, but what about him?"

"Ah, and you, Sora," the young dark being continued, unphased by anything that Sora had just said, "…you're no more real than your two so-called 'friends'. For what is a person who is separated from their other half? A Heartless in disguise…You know no different."

Sora looked like he was losing hope, yet he still stood strong. Roxas, however, seemed to be growing steadily more furious, and his fury could be felt in Sora as well.

"How does it feel to remember you're nothing? To know you're separated from half of what would make you whole…if only you were to just accept it." Zexion took a step closer to them, and suddenly Sora and the others seemed to wake up.

"That's not true!" Sora said, his other two companions now standing by his side with equal expressions of determination. "Me and Roxas aren't apart! We're together now, and we always will be, no matter what or how far away we are! As long as we stick together, nothing can keep us from being whole!"

"How sentimental," the Organization member crooned. "A company of fakes, all standing by eachother's sides and proclaiming to me about 'friendship'. It's almost enough to make me cry…Almost."

The others stood their ground, facing the enemy and bracing themselves.

"Are you done yet?" Sora finally challenged him.

"Well, while I'm at it, why don't I leave this group with a little sample of what it's really up against?" the blue-haired Nobody said to them, stepping closer and causing them to take a final step back. Hayner began to lose his balance and swung his arms around precariously as he began to feel his body fall backwards. He felt as if someone's fingernails were clamping along his spine tightly as the feeling of what would happen where he to fall overtook him. Roxas grabbed him just in time, and he pulled the panicked boy up straight.

"Ha, you really are quite a team," Zexion mocked. "What happened last time? Lucky combo? I can already tell it was just a fluke that got you as far as Hollow Bastion this time. You should really be thankful."

Zexion raised one arm with a calm expression and a smirk on his face, and suddenly the area looked to the three like it was tilting. Even though they couldn't feel themselves really moving, the image of it was enough to set them off. All three took an alarmed step forward to make sure they weren't thrown off the cliff, and all at once the world suddenly seemed to be turning itself upside down, causing the three to begin to lose their balance. A deep black portal of darkness began to form behind Zexion as if he were about to leave.

'Don't let it get to me!' Roxas thought in his mind desperately as the world swayed awkwardly. 'It's just an illusion…!'

Suddenly, as the cliff continued to appear as though it were tilting, Roxas felt himself being thrown backwards by his own confused equilibrium. In a desperate last minute act, Roxas grabbed onto Sora's sleeve, causing Sora to be pulled off his feet by his equally-weighted Nobody. Both began to fly almost in slow motion through the air as Hayner watched, helpless. Sora, almost blind as to what was happening himself, reached out for anything that might save both of their lives and felt the edge of the overhanging cliff, grasping onto it with four fingers free of the help of his thumb.

Hayner, his expression wide as he began to run towards his friends, stopped suddenly as he noticed Zexion in the corner of his eye. He was standing with…

Naminé?

"N…!" Hayner turned, his brown eyes wide with wonder, looking at what his heart told him was just an illusion of the blonde girl but his mind told him was the real thing. She stood next to Zexion with empty, mysterious blue eyes that still caused his heart to beat faster, despite a blank expression on her face.

Roxas and Sora could be heard crying helplessly from below the edge of the cliff, Sora hanging on by one quickly slipping hand as Roxas clung to one of Sora's legs, squeezing his eyes shut as he yelled Hayner's name.

"I know what it is you want, Hayner," Zexion said to Hayner almost tauntingly. "Come and get it if you want it. Either way, your lust will be your downfall, whether now or next week."

Sora barely managed to swing his other arm up to help buy Hayner more time, but the side of the cliff was concave, making it impossible for Sora to reach the edge with his foot without just causing himself to slip more. Roxas, too, could feel himself slipping as his grip on Sora's leg weakened.

Hayner couldn't believe himself; he was completely frozen as he stared at the figure in black clothes as he disappeared into his own portal of darkness. "Naminé" paused, still looking at Hayner with those two blue eyes, then turned and followed mindlessly after Zexion. Hayner had never felt so tempted to follow.

Just as he took a step forward, however, he was jerked to a stop as if he had been asleep and his own movements had jolted him awake. He gasped and dived for the edge of the cliff, skidding to a stop on his stomach with his arms over the edge of the cliff. Without a moment wasted, he grabbed Sora's wrists, which were just inches below the edge of the cliff after finally giving in to gravity. The sudden shift in gravity pulled Hayner downwards as well, and suddenly all three were breathless as they held onto eachother in some way and fell like slow-moving boulders through the endless air. The entire world was quiet as they fell, Roxas eventually letting go of Sora's leg and grabbing his wrist as Hayner still held Sora's other. Together they each fell, downward…

On the top of the cliff, just after the blackened portal disappeared, four quite large, white dragon-like creatures appeared close by, having been drawn by the presence of one of the once-lost masters of the Nobodies. All four creatures instinctively took flight in the direction of the castle, flying far above the three boys' heads.

As they continued to fall, Roxas, the only of them left to not have shut his eyes in hopelessness, could see the foggy shape of the four dragons far above through his vision, blurred by winded tears as they continued to fall.

He could tell they were Nobodies; 'Dragoons,' he thought…

Whether from last hope or because of a darker side of him that he barely knew anymore, Roxas' face suddenly took on a greater look of superiority, focusing at the Nobodies flying far above them. It was as if he were trying to command them by sheer will…

Suddenly, as everything seemed to continued moving more slowly than it should have, the four mighty dragon-like Nobodies swooped themselves downwards, and one by one with just one Dragoon left over, each of the boys was caught gently in the claws of one and lifted onto their backs in such a way that would not injure them.

After that, none of the boys said a word or even opened their eyes as the group of creatures beat their jagged wings powerfully, lifting all of them higher into the sun-lit sky as they began their silent plight towards the Radient Garden not far away.

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