-Roxas Is Missing-

Alex smiled as he watched the small members of Organization rush into the room. However, something seemed wrong. He counted them, then counted again.

"Twelve…" he muttered, "Twelve? Where's the thirteenth? And who's missing…?" he thought for a moment, glancing over them.

"Roxas," he realized, "Where's Roxas?"

"What's that?" Xarvis asked, coming up behind him.

"I can't find Roxas," he explained, confused, "Have you seen him anywhere?"

"Are you sure he's not here?"

"Yes. What, do you see him?"

"I'm sure he's here somewhere," Xarvis sighed, looking around the room. He frowned.

"No, no, I don't see him…!" he gasped, and hurried over to Axel, and asked, "Hey there, Axel! Um… Have you seen Roxas?"

"Nope," the little red head replied, "Is he still sleeping?"

"He shouldn't be…" the man said, "But, Alex, will you…?"

"I'll check."

Xarvis continued to check around. There was no sign of the tiny blond. Soon, Alex returned.

"So, did you find him?" he asked anxiously.

"No…"

"We've got to find him!"

"I know you already asked him, but maybe Axel would know where he'd be," Alex suggested.

"Perhaps. Go and see," Xarvis agreed, with a quick nod.

"Axel…?" the young man called gently, and the red head looked up, "Do you know where Roxas might be?"

"No… Well… I dunno…" Axel shrugged, "Are you playing hide and seek?"

"No…" Alex sighed.

"You mean…" the red head said slowly, then suddenly panicked as realization hit him, "He just disappeared?! He's never gonna come back, or something?!"

"Oh, don't worry! We'll find him," the young man assured him, "But we need your help."

"What for?"

"Well… Do you have any idea where Roxas might be?"

Axel thought for a moment, then finally answered, "He likes to go to Twilight Town."

"Twilight Town?" Xarvis inquired, "He can make it there on his own?"

"Yeah! We really like going there! We have lotsa ice cream, and the sunset's really, really pretty, and-"

"But how can Roxas get there by himself?" Alex interrupted, curious.

"I dunno… Maybe he can still use those black portal things…" Axel guessed, and explained, "See, when we were big, we could use these portal things to go to all sorts of places."

"Then Axel and I will go to Twilight Town," Alex decided, "Because he would know where to find the little guy."

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Alex glanced around at the location in which they now stood. A town where it was continuously twilight, regardless of the hour. They searched several places- a sandlot, back alley, even an underground subway. Finally, he knelt down to the level of the little boy standing beside him.

"Okay, Axel- where else would Roxas be?" he asked, smiling gently.

"Um… oh, I know! I know! I think he's on the clock tower! Yeah, we really like doing that!" Axel replied, bouncing up and down.

"On the clock tower?!" Alex gasped.

"Yeah… Is there somethin' wrong with that?" the boy tilted his head to one side, confused.

"He could fall!" the older explained urgently.

"Fall?!" Axel said in small voice, "But I don't want him to get hurt!"

"We just need to get up there and see, okay?"

"Okay," the red head nodded.

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Alex pushed open the clock tower's door. He gasped, realizing exactly how high they had climbed.

"What's the matter?" Axel asked innocently.

"Um… it's just… a little high up, that's all," the other replied nervously, "Stay here, understand?"

"Got it."

Alex turned back toward the path across the front of the enormous clock. A small figure sat at the far end of that path, and turned to him.

"Awets!" the child shrieked happily, "Wanna pway wif me?"

"I think I need to get you down, now," the man replied, trying desperately not to look down.

"I wan' ice cweam! We eat yummy ice cweam, pwease?" Roxas begged, getting up as well as he could, and began to crawl towards him. Alex picked him up as quickly as he could, and sighed with relief.

"You 'kay?" the baby inquired.

"I am now," Alex answered as he made his way back to the door. Roxas bounced in his arms as soon as he noticed Axel.

"Atsew! Atsew! Wanna pway wif me?" he screamed.

"Yeah!" Axel replied cheerfully.

"Not yet, we're not back at the castle!" Alex said quickly, before the tiny blond could wriggle out of his arms.

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Upon return, they were greeted by Xarvis.

"So, you found him! Good," he said with an expression of relief.

"Ice cweam?" Roxas piped up.

"Hmm?"

"He wants ice cream," Alex explained.

"Ah, but we have to have breakfast, first!" Xarvis replied to the little boy, whom he, as well as his best friend, appeared downcast. He quickly added, to cheer them up, "However… we might have some after we eat. What do you say to that?"

"Yes!" Axel cried, thrusting a fist into the air.

Roxas followed with, "Yay!" He trembled with excitement.

Alex laughed. "I'm glad your back," he said, with a smile.

-And so, this is the chapter before the final one. However, I plan on a sequel! I expect it will be up soon after I'm finished with this one.- TwilightFairy928