Chapter 2: Getting ready to leave

Disclaimer: Neither I nor Neko own Kingdom Hearts or the characters of Kingdom Hearts.

It was a scene of chaos in the Seventh Heaven, the bar that Tifa ran in Hollow Bastion, as everyone got ready to leave on the Highwind to go through Disney Castle, but first they would have to pick up some people on the way. In truth, it was Yuffie who was causing most of the chaos running around to pick up the items that she claimed she needed, but she had laid them in places that were either out of the reach of normal men or she forgot where she put them. The only person who agreed to help without some added incentive or threat was Riku, who had kept his clothes and things neatly packed together in case they were needed, unlike Sora, who had everything in disarray. The hyper active ninja, who was only a year older than Riku, but lacked his maturity, bounced off the walls quite literally causing Cloud to have to duck occasionally to avoid her knocking him over. Riku took a different approach by going to places she would most likely be and he set each item that she had required into a nice and neat pile near her suitcase. Leon had chosen to take a duffel bag with a change of clothes instead of a big suitcase while Cloud allowed his stuff to be packed with Tifa's, an act which gave Tifa hope that she could somehow get to him when she needed to. Aerith was helping Tifa pack her own stuff while the temporary manager of the bar, Harold, served the survivors of the attack who came in beers and other drinks.

"So I guess we should swing by and pick up Kairi at the island," said Riku to Sora, but his friend was fast asleep and had to be jolted awake with a thunder bolt before he could get him to talk.

"Don't worry about Kairi, she's already at the castle, they got her two days ago," replied Sora as he let out a large yawn that happened to catch Yuffie's ears.

"Oh no you don't," shouted Yuffie as she ran over to the young keyblade master and stamped her foot. "I'm not letting you be the master of yawning as well! Being the master of the keyblade is more than enough for you!"

"Well why don't you try and top that yawn," said Sora as he yawned in the middle of his sentence, but it was obvious that it was a fake yawn, no matter how lazy they all knew the boy was.

"Watch this," commanded Yuffie as she yawned loudly, much to the chagrin of Leon and Cloud, but Riku found it to be…cute.

"Excuse me, but instead of trying to break the Hollow Bastion book of world records for doing the most pointless things at once, why don't you two finish packing," said Cloud as he leaned against the wall and looked at the two in that calm cool form that made both Yuffie and Sora jealous.

"Oh yeah, your real cool and tough for someone with a stupid chocobo hairdo," retorted Yuffie but she found that Cloud was hardly phased by the comment.

"Come on you guys, start packing, I want to leave tomorrow if possible," begged Tifa before she turned to Harold to finish explaining the do's and don'ts of the bar tending business. "Now you don't have to worry about some drunks coming in and asking for me, they always do that when I go on vacation, but what you should look out for is that damn 'Red Eyes' coming in here to ask for his cut. He's not that tough and all of his backing is supplied by 'Wolf Eyes' who has no interest in giving him man power to use for extortion. Next, make sure that Reno is always accompanied by Rude, because he'll pass out drunk and then you'll have to carry him home or ask one of the guys to carry him home. Yuffie once carried him home and he tried to grope her."

"Since I'm a guy, I don't think I have to worry about it that much," replied Harold confused and with a blank stare plastered over his face. "But I'll make sure that Rude is here to take him out, but shouldn't I also look out for Rude, I mean his name does sound like some form of wild man."

"Oh no, you don't have to worry about Rude, it's Reno that's the trouble," laughed Tifa as she thought of the bald man with dark sunglasses causing havoc anywhere. "Anyway that is all, thank you for taking over the place for me while I'm out."

"No, thank you for allowing me this opportunity to take care of the most precious thing to you," said Harold, tears of joy streaming down his cheek as he held her right hand in both hands. "I will make sure that nothing happens to this place while you are gone."

"Uh…thanks," replied Tifa as she slipped her hand out of his grasp and backed away slowly in uneasiness.

"Where am I," asked the man with blazing red hair as he got up from the space he occupied on the cold dark marble slab that he was lying on. A second ago he was dying in front of his best friend and his best friend's somebody. "I should be dead right now or at least out of existence from the damage I suffered."

"I was also dead for a second I think," said another man, who was younger than the red head and had blond hair that was fluffed on the top and slicked back into a mullet that made him look like some type of rock star. "Hey, Axel, what are you doing here, is this hell or something?"

"No this isn't Hell, we're nobodies, we don't go to places like that, Demyx," replied Axel as he got up and looked around the dimly lit room with an odd man in white robes who had long brown hair and big yellow eyes that looked like the eyes of a wolf. "And who exactly are you mister mysterious looking man?"

"I'm just some random nomad wandering around to look for the truth of the world," replied the man as he looked at the two nobodies that he had picked up. "My name however…hmm, why don't you call me Adamsk, I rather like that name, wish it were my own. As to how you came to be in my company, it was by the chance that your somebodies haves not been destroyed unlike all the others of your Organization XIII. Instead of dying or simply going out of existence all together, you were drifting around the space of this world which is, I believe, the remnants of that home world that the Organization made. Pieces of it gather, drawn to the remnants of that failed Kingdom Hearts and as such, it has come to be a strange world that for all intense and purposes was made into a world that will suit my purposes for the time being. In the mean time I would like to congratulate you on both being able to have the chance that other nobodies get in this life time."

"What do you mean exactly," asked Demyx as he scratched his head showing that he didn't understand what the strange man was saying, which annoyed his old comrade.

"It means that we have the same chance as Roxas had, idiot," said Axel as he rolled his eyes at the annoyance of his partner. "So how exactly do we do this, I mean do you have a method of moving from world to world?"

"Well all I have is the ability to send you between one world and one world only," said the man who called himself Adamsk as he held up one finger. "The world I'm sending you to is Hollow Bastion, where you should run into an old friend of yours and his somebody. If you travel with them you are sure to find your somebodies along the way and you may find that you may grow wiser for the whole experience. Now, do you wish to go into the unknown of the worlds without the ability to shift between wordls like you had before?"

"We can't move through worlds anymore," asked a shocked Demyx, but Axel figured that Adamsk would have told them where there somebodies were if they had that ability, but obviously they would have to find out on their own. He bet that Adamsk took their ability to shift through worlds away on purpose in order for them to carry out whatever he wished them to do.

"Yes, that was the price you both paid to get out of that abyss that you were in before," said Adamsk as he pointed up above his head at a white light that swirled around like a mist and looking into it gave Axel a sense of dread."That is the area where all that should not exist goes when it is damaged or weakened so much that the object that doesn't exist can no longer resist its pull. For the time, you two do exist through the use of giving you some of what was left of Kingdom Hearts, but that bit of substance is slowly draining away and if you can't find your somebodies at 11:59, you will be unable to resist its pull."

"Grand, more good news, you just know how to lighten someone's spirit," spat Axel as he drenched his words in sarcasm and ran his hand through his long spiky red hair.

"Really, well I can enlighten nobody with my words if they aren't somebody," said Adamsk as he returned the sarcasm with his own snide remarks.

"Now then, to send you back I will need to open a couple of portals so I should use the portals to Hollow Bastion that the heartless are using," said Adamsk as he began to open a portal for the two nobodies who looked at the portal with foreboding.

" You're going to close the portal after us, aren't you," asked Axel as he turned his head slightly to look at the strange man.

"Why ask if you already know the answer," asked Adamsk as he pushed the two into the portal and closed it after them. "I wish the both of you much luck on your journey."

Sora sighed as he looked at the other portal that more heartless were coming out, the last thing he needed to happen before he set off on his journey to Disney Castle, but it was his job to take care of them because he had the keyblade, the responsibility, and no other way he knew to make a living. Everyone around him was just as sick and tired of seeing those things come out of the sky as he was and when he found out the place where Maleficent or Pete were sending them from, it was going to be on like Donkey Kong. But that was for another time, right now he had to focus on the heartless that were about to come out of the portal and massacre them so badly that Maleficent will stop sending them in fear of ending up like them, but he knew that she was too stubborn and proud to accept defeat.

"Will they just come out already so that Sora can seal the damn portal and we can go," shouted Yuffie, who was feeling like she was about to crash after going on damage control packing.

"You're not helping the matter at all by whining," said Leon as he sat down on a random piece of rubble and hefted his large gunblade on his back. "Heartless may not be the ones coming out, remember there could always be the presence of nobodies as long as the heartless exist."

"Uh…Leon," said Sora as he pointed to the two familiar nobodies coming out of the portal behind a swarm of heartless that they were fighting. "I think you shouldn't mention all the enemies that we have out there."

"Axel wasn't an enemy when you last saw him and the Organization is gone, so they should possess no threat to us," said Cloud while standing at the top of the stairs that led to the Bailey. "From where they landed they seem to be near Ansem's mansion."

"Welp, to Ansem's castle it is!" Sora cried, springing forward into a full-fledged charge. Yuffie hopped up instantly, following behind like a true ninja. Riku and Cloud glanced at each other, then their packs, then in unison at Tiffa and Leon. The two shrugged, rushing off right after Sora and Yuffie with Riku and Cloud bringing up the rear.

"Woah," Demyx said, lying on the ground next to Axel with heartless all around them. "Where'd all these heartless come from? Shouldn't there be somebody controlling them or something?"

Axel shrugged, staggering up on his feet with slight difficulty. He brushed himself off, earning a complaint from the blonde boy sitting right in range of the dust and rocks. Axel ignored him.

"Reckon that Malificent person and that big cat are- " Axel started. Right as he started his sentence, an entire group of heartless had jumped into the air, claws spread and mouths wide. They landed at perfect timing, digging into Axel's flesh like lions at dinner time. Axel grunted as he threw some off, only to have more jump in their place. He refused to let them force him against the ground, knowing he would be ripped to shreds and overpowered.

"DANCE WATER DANCE!" Demyx's loud cry sounded from beside Axel, even

though he could not see him. In mere seconds, water was flowing everywhere, taking down any unfortunate heartless daring enough to step forward too close. Axel felt slightly dazzled as the freezing water splashed on him and freed him from the heartlesses' grip. His eyes could spot Demyx now, the boy jumping around with his Sitar ringing with multiple vibes at once. As Axel watched, he notice the blonde's movements begin to slow rapidly, a sure sign he was in need of rest right then and there.

Stealithy, Axel dashed forward, drawing his fire stars to his hands ashe ran. Right when Demyx hit the floor, Axel raised his stars and began throwing fire so quickly it was almost invisible. Ashes from the heartless littered the ground with each twirl or spin of a fire star. The heartless, however, were still coming, even though their numbers were dying down. Before long, a throbbing pain hit Axel in the whole of his body, effectively damaging his aim.

"Axel, ... something's happened...We can't use our moves as easily as we used to.." Demyx mumbled, sweat dripping off his forehead. He breathed heavily along with Axel, both men's eyesight somewhat fogged.

"Yeah, this may not be too good..." Axel said, sighing and stepping back, nearly onto Demyx's hand. The heartless began creeping up slowly, one by one with their teeth chattering in anxiety. Axel's body slumoed by itself next to Demyx, both nobodies wielding their weapons before them but unable to

use them.

"Guess this is it then. Get another chance at life and we get murdered by our own henchmen. Ugh, I never should have took this job." Demyx mumbled, lowering his head as the heartless leaped forward. He expected their claws to tear into his flesh at any moment, but it never happened.

A boy hurtled off the nearby wall, swinging a keyblade back and forth through the crowd of heartless like a swordsman. Heartless disappeared one by one, finally getting down to just two. More people showed up and finished them off in no time flat. The boy with the keyblade walked towards the two nobodies, getting a chuckle from Axel when the red head finally saw him coming.

"Long time no see, Sora, Roxas." Axel said, cocking his head so he could see the boy. Sora nodded, grinning while another invisible person seeable with only Axel, Demyx, and Sora at that moment stood beside him. "Hey,Axel." The invisible boy said, smiling.