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Chapter 5

It was an awkward gummi ride

"We tried to tell him, I swear!" Yuffie said, looking at Demyx with a truthful look.

"Keep your eyes on the road!" Axel cursed.

Yuffie wasn't the smoothest of drivers. Every so often the ship would wobble to one side or the other.

There was much that needed to be discussed, but everyone on the ship seemed to be trapped in their own head. There had been an awkward tension in the ship that made everyone a little hesitant to speak.

Riku was staring at the two former Organization members intensely. It made Demyx feel a little uneasy but he took comfort in the fact that looks couldn't kill. Axel just sat back casually, and Kairi was sitting beside Riku, hoping she could feel safer being so close to her over-protective friend. She was stiff and her head was cast down but every so often her eyes would dart upward to get a look at the redhead sitting across from her. She made sure he didn't see her looking.

But Axel did see her looking. He could sense her nervous gaze, and a part of him felt a little guilty because of it. But then again, he wasn't supposed to feel anything was he?

Sora sat with his right cheek leaning into his hand. It seemed too unreal for his mind to process what he was seeing. And weird, really weird. Sure Axel had helped him out in the end, but he had seen him fade away into nothingness…and now he was sitting there nonchalantly as if it wasn't a big deal.

And then there was Demyx, who was terrified out of his mind! He kept looking at Sora as if the Keyblade wielder was going to pounce on him at any second. And why would he be like that? It's not like Demyx was completely helpless; Sora remembered how difficult fighting him had been.

Leon leaned against the wall, observing the tension between the former Organization members and the three key wielders. He sighed, wondering if it was better to ignore it or let them talk it out. The point of bringing the two men along was so that Sora, Riku and Kairi would be able to talk to them and move past what they used to be. But now, no one was saying anything, and he was re-thinking the decision to bring the two of them along.

Among the confusion present in the room, Leon's eyes found Selphie, who was gazing out the window and humming happily. He was still in disbelief that she was there. Selphie, the same girl who fought alongside him and their friends back in his own world. She was looking out the window and humming exactly as she would if she were on a train to Galabadia. When Leon looked at Selphie, it was like time hadn't passed at all since the last time he'd seen her, since the time he'd seen any of them.

He knew he should be discussing the current threat with the others, he knew he was supposed to be staying focused and on task, but how could he keep his feet grounded in the present when such a big part of his past was standing so close?Maybe his past didn't have to stay lost forever…maybe…maybe he could have it all back.

"Ple-e-ease, will somebody say something?" Yuffie pleaded, this time she made sure to keep her concentration on what was ahead of her in space.

"Alright." Sora said, standing up. The silence had gone on too long. He had questions. And I want answers… "Why and how are you two here?" His finger darted between Axel and Demyx.

Axel seemed taken back, but it was mock surprise. "What? Am I not wanted?!"

Demyx scoffed. "I thought Roxas would be a little happy to see us…"

Sora shook his head in annoyance. "Let's not start with that again. You're talking to me right now, not Roxas!"

Demyx face light up. "So you mean, Roxas is in there too?" He motioned to Sora's skull. "Hey there buddy!"

"Yes…and hey! Don't change the subject!" Sora frowned.

Axel chuckled, sitting up. "Alright, I guess we gotta get all these explanations out the way."

With his mind back on task, Leon made a hand gesture for Axel to speed it up. Finally…

"Someone resurrected us." Axel began, but paused soon after. He was thinking about what else to say, but he didn't really understand it fully himself. I mean, can something be 'resurrected' if it never really 'existed' in the first place…? "I'm not sure how, maybe the rules don't apply if you're…well, you know…" …if you're nothing… Axel finished his thought only in his mind.

"The woman who did this, she expected us all to work for her…but I wasn't up for that again." Demyx said, picking up where Axel trailed off and saving him from saying anything else.

"A woman?" Riku said in a questioning tone.

"Yeah, she's a nobody who calls herself Dexea… she used some sort of spell." Demyx explained.

"So, let me get this straight, this…Dexea brings you back to life, and then you two betray her?" Riku sounded very cynical as he spoke.

"Yup, that's right." Axel nodded.

Sora understood where Riku was going with this. Maybe it was Roxas' influence, but for some reason Sora felt that the two Organization members were actually genuinely here to help. Still he let Riku carry on with his interrogation, he knew it needed to be done.

"How do we know your not actually here to betray us?" Riku asked, with his eyes narrowed.

Axel stood up from his chair and took a step towards Riku. "Look, I'm nobody's lackey. Back when we all joined the Organization, it was like we didn't have a choice. But the truth is, I wasn't cut out to be a , you tell me I don't have a heart, but I'm not stupid and I don't like the idea of mindlessly following someone else's orders. I play by my own rules, and if that means I want to help you guys stop what ever those morons are trying to do, than I'll do that. You can accept my help, or not."

Riku kept his expression tight, but he turned to Demyx waiting for his answer.

Demyx glanced to his left and right, searching for someone who could be within Riku's hard glare. But of course, there was no one else. He found his voice and stammered out his response. "I—It's like Axel said, when we joined, it felt like it was the only thing to do. But I'm wasn't cut out for it either, so I'm here to offer my help." He sent a quick glance toward Sora before bringing his eyes back onto the floor.

"Are we satisfied now?" The impatient tone came from Leon's corner. "We have other things to discuss."

"One more thing we should get out of the way." Axel said and he turned to Kairi. "Relax, will you? I'm sorry. I was never going to hurt you."

Kairi's shoulders relaxed. Sora had already told her that much, but she needed to hear Axel say it. Her cheeks flushed a little embarrassed for not being able to hide her fear. "Okay, thank you."

Selphie was sitting next to Kairi now. "Wait, so what did you do?"

Leon read Selphie's confused expression. "Since she is coming with us, maybe someone should fill her in on her a few things." His hand motioned toward Selphie.

"Thank you!" Selphie exclaimed.

Riku, Sora, and Kairi turned toward their friend. "Alright," Sora said. "But sit back Selph, because this is going to be a long story."

A woman walked through the dark and dingy alleyway. She loathed hiding away from the common folk, as if she had a reason to fear them. But until she was at her strongest, she was not ready to make herself known. Still, even at her present power level, she would be able to crush any insignificant being that came into her line of sight. The woman held back her urges, though she welcomed any exceptions that were to wander into her line of vision.

Something else stirred in the shadows of the alleyway. She turned ready to kill the being that had seen her, the one that knew of her existence. Her eyes darted back and fourth until they fell upon the black figure awkwardly moving out of the shadows.

It was a Heartless. She could tell it knew of her presence; it turned erratically trying to get away. She smirked in amusement. It fears me… Then she put her hand forward, grabbing onto the Heatless right where its heart would be. She held onto its heart, and it writhed and twitched as the darkness whisked away from the little being. It did this until all that was left was the heart it had once held captive. It was a heartless no more.

The woman looked over at what she had taken, studying its usefulness. It had been the heart of someone weak, she had decided. Some frail, insignificant human, who, from what she could see, barely put up a fight to hold on to their pathetic existence.

Her eyes narrowed as she stared at the heart. "It is not mine," and she clamped her fingers into a fist, crushing the heart into nothing.

She walked on, her red robe swaying behind her as she went. Even as she came to the end of the alleyway, she kept herself hidden beneath the cover of shadows. It was now that she spotted them.

"Donald! Goofy!" She watched as the spiky haired boy she'd been warned about collided with two odd looking creatures.

"Sora!" one of them quacked enthusiastically. He threw his arms around the boy. What is this? The woman thought.

The white haired boy—she assumed this was the one who had been conflicted with darkness—walked toward the other creature. The boy's face seemed to brighten at the sight of him. The creature made a sound that was somewhere between a laugh a hiccup."Good to see you Riku!" He said.

A girl came into view. She cocked her a head to the side, her face light up and she started to laugh. Why is she laughing?

The woman continued to watch the scene take place before her. What are they—? They must know of the increased Heartless activity, she was sure of this. So why were they wasting time with this strange behaviour? What was its purpose? She willed herself not to underestimate her enemy, but it was difficult for her even consider these weak, and seemingly distracted group of beings a serious threat.

Watching them frustrated the woman. Their expressions seemed light as air; she was enraged just watching them all behave in this manner she could not comprehend. She wanted to attack, to destroy them. She wanted to see their faces contorted with heavy fear.

Two more people came into her view. And suddenly, she was consumed with an incomprehensible sense of rage. The man had his arms crossed and carried a serious expression. The girl seemed to bounce lightly with each step she took. She was filled with such revulsion; she wanted to make them suffer. But she wasn't completely sure was it about these two that enraged her so?

She decided then and there, that she would destroy them. When the time was right, she would destroy them all before they even knew of her identity. She kept watching them and the arrival of two new figures fed her immense rage even pairwalked casually beside the man and the girl whom she inexplicably despised. They were traitors, and by now, they would have revealed much more information then was meant to be shared at this stage.

With her eyes narrowed and unfathomable anger and frustration coursing through her, she disappeared into the shadows.

Leon was pacing back and forth in the control room of the Hollow Bastion Restoration Committee Headquarters. He had intended on starting the briefing when they were in the gummi ship, but everyone had been too distracted. After a happy reunion took place, everyone assembled into the room, and finally, they were able to begin.

"The first incident," Leon began, " was reported in Agrabah just a little after the fall of Xemnas. It seemed insignificant at the time, as Heartless attacks were non-existent. Any reported sightings described the Heartless as cowering away and running off. We assumed it was part of the after-shock from Xenmas' death, but when more worlds were being unlocked with non-aggressive Heartless roaming around, it became suspicious.

"What could possibly be scaring the Heartless away into submission?" He asked the group.

"Your face." Axel mumbled, from the end of the table.

"Axel, was he talking to you?" Tifa frowned.

"Hey, the question was open to everyone."

Leon rolled his eyes, restraining himself from commenting back and continued. "After Agrabah, there were heartless sightings in Atlantica, and then Neverland, Halloweentown and so on. All reportings described the same strange behaviour. At this point it seemed the Heartless ceased to be hostile, and well frankly, we were finding it more difficult to see this change as a negative."

"But we couldn't just ignore it of course." Yuffie cut in. "Good thing too, because eventually, they started to attack again. It was like these random spouts of violence where a bunch of them would go crazy and start attacking."

"Like when they attacked me and Kairi?" Selphie shouted out. Kairi winced at the mention of the attack. Did she have to bring it up? All eyes shifted toward Selphie and Kairi.

Selphie raised an eyebrow. "What, was I supposed to put my hand up?"

Aerith stood up, a concerned look on her face. "The Heartless attacked you? On Destiny Island?"

Leon waved a hand. "We'll get to that in a second," He motioned toward the group of teens. "They need to know everything first."

Yuffie shrugged. "Okay then, moving on. The heartless started attacking again, and it would happen out of nowhere. Kinda like, they were really bored or something. So, here at Radiant Garden, we've upped security. Cloud's on duty right now, patrolling the streets for any possible activity."

"So you don't know what the cause of all this is?" Riku asked.

Leon motioned his hand toward Axel and Demyx, praying they would take the discussion serious enough do their part without personal commentary.

"Well," Axel began as he stood up. "We're pretty sure it's Dexea…it's really not that much of stretch, she is twisted and very violent. She's the one who brought us back."

"We sort of got out before we really knew what she was after. But, well, we at least know she's trying to get stronger."

Riku raised his eyebrow. "That's it, you 'at least' know? So why aren't we going after this woman?"

Axel scoffed. "You can't run into the battlefield blind folded, even I know that. How would you go after her? We don't even know where she is."

"So what have you all been doing up to now?" Riku questioned.

"We've been keeping up with heartless attacks here in Radiant Garden." Leon explained. "Lately, they've been slowing down a little, but for while they were completely erratic. We were finally able come out get you three…" He glanced at Selphie. He was still felt thrown off every time he remembered her presence. "…well, four. Axel and Demyx were able to tell us their past locations while they were with Dexea. We compared their coordinates with where the heartless attacks have been, and they always seem to happen when Dexea and the Organization far away from the site. So we've come to the conclusion that the heartless are afraid of this woman."

Sora was trying to wrap his head around this theory. " But—but the heartless are corrupted hearts, filled with darkness. Even if they could think well enough to fear anything, why would they fear this woman?"

"I'll answer that." Axel said raising his hand. "Because this woman is completely delusional. Even worse than Xemnas. She was always spouting garbage, about the power us nobodies could have, if we were to find our hearts. She says that, since we have lived without emotions, we can take our hearts back, use its power to our benefit but keep our emotions under control."

"But, what's the point of that?" Kairi spoke up for the first time. "That's what having a heart is all about, being able to feel emotions."

"Exactly!" Axel said throwing his hands in the air. "But trust me, you wouldn't want to argue with her."

"So Dexea is after her heart?" Kairi asked.

"Aren't all nobodies?" Axel said, shrugging. Kairi could a hint of sadness in his eyes when he said this.

"But," Demyx stood up. "There are other ways of finding your way back to your heart. And I really don't think searching through every heartless out there is the answer."

Axel sent Demyx a sideways glance and shook his head slightly. "That is, if finding your heart really matters. And all those brainless organization members just take her word as if she's god. Maybe it's different for Dexea, but for most of us nobodies, there comes a point where it just doesn't matter anymore…"

Sora cocked his head sideways as if he just realized something. "Wait, exactly how many of you organization members are alive again?"

"Well…There's Luxord, Xigbar…" Demyx began counting them down with his fingers. "Marluxia, Larxene, Saix… yup that about covers it."

Sora's head was spinning with the five names—five nobodies who surely wanted him dead. "Great." He muttered.

Hey all, sorry for the long update...enjoy and please review... Please? I'll give you sea salt ice cream...maybe ? ;)