Axel sat staring out the window next to his bed in his small, two room apartment. He had arrived in Destiny Islands nearly three weeks ago and to his surprise discovered he recognized more then a few faces in the town. He had found nearly all of the members of Organization 13 here, living perfectly ordinary lives, yet remaining as close knit as ever before; They were all practically one big family, like they had been a very long time ago. The even lived close together in the same neighborhood on the opposite side of the island was the rest of the worlds inhabitants, so as to avoid suspicion and question, all in all they were pretty comfortable here.
And to Axel's complete surprised amusement, a lot of the former Nobody's had paired up, now that they had hearts they found that deep set feelings for one another had awakened! Zexion and Lexaeus lived in a two story down the street, already planning a future there. Marluxia and Vexen, of all the strange pairings, lived in the apartment next to Axel's, already married! Below Axel lived Demyx and Xigbar, who were still rather earlier in the relationship, after all they had only be reunited a week after Axel had arrived. Next to them Xaldin had moved in with Larxene, of all the people, yet the two went well together. Even Xemnas and Saix had found a life together, the two had arrived earlier this very week and with the help of the rest of their former subordinates, had acquired a small cottage near the beach. Lastly, and to Axel utmost shock, Xion lived in the apartment on his other side, somehow she too had been given a chance at a new life.
However, for all the happy comforts and all his old friends being around him, Axel was terribly depressed. One member of the former Organization remained unaccounted for, a certain small blue eyed blonde keyblader. The red head missed Roxas terribly, the blonde was constantly at the for front of his mind and for the hundredth time, since he had accepted that Roxas was never going to show up, he pulled his knees to his chest and wept quietly in the dark. Axel's once brilliant green eyes stared listlessly out the window at the night sky, regret welling up inside for the hundredth times since he had been given his new life, the regret of never conveying his feelings to a certain blonde keyblader.
Axel thought of the first time he'd met Roxas and sat with him on the train station tower in Twilight Town and all the times after. Tears continued to flow freely, unable and not willing to stop their flow as they formed rivers down his pale face, soaking his loose black t-shirt. Everyone was sleeping by now as Axel stood up, he exited his apartment and headed for the hidden beach on the far side of the island, far from the neighborhood in which he lived and out of reach to the town on the other side of the massive island. The former Flurry of Dancing Flames stood silently on the white sand of the empty beach, staring out over the moon kissed ocean, that flowed up to meet his knees as he waded out into is; Fully clothed in his black jeans, boots, and t-shirt.
The breeze drifted through his hair, which had grown quiet a bit since he had arrived in Destiny Islands, the red locks, though still and unruly mess, were well past his slim shoulders now. He allowed his emerald eyes to fall shut as he focused souly on the sensations or the water around his waist and the wind in his hair, allowing his troubled mind the chance to relax, even though the brief freedom from his own eternal torment was only for a short period of time, he welcomed it with open arms.
He felt the water suddenly well up and wrap itself around his shoulder like a pair of welcome arms and he opened his eyes, smiling sadly as he recognized a familiar water clone. The clone melted back into the water as the red head turned toward the beach, where none other than the Melodious Nocturne stood waiting for him, his arms crossed over his; Dressed in a simple blue shirt with a music note in a darker blue on his front and white skinny jeans. Sighing heavily, Axel walked back to the beach to meet his friend, "You shouldn't be swimming in your clothes like that Ax, especially at night...You of all people are far more likely to get sick doing that than anyone else...Remember the time Saix sent you to Atlantica and you were bed ridden for a week?" The blonde said once the red head had reached him. "Yeah...I remember..." Axel replied quietly, he also remembered how worried Roxas had been, how the blonde had refused to take a single mission till he was well again; And Axel unwilling stamped those memories away as a fresh wave a pain washed over him.
"You still miss him, huh?" Demyx asked, leaning over slightly to look into the red heads turned away face, "Listen...I know it hurts Ax...But you can't keep tormenting yourself over it...You need to move on, Roxas wouldn't want you beating yourself up and trying to get sick..." Axel sighed softly, but chose not to reply as he followed Demyx back to their apartment complex.
Sora found himself in the last place he ever thought he would end up again, Castle Oblivion, a place that, thanks to the King and Jiminy's help, he remembered being in once before. Beside him was Riku, Donald and Goofy and the King walked just ahead of them, giving them well needed space. It had been three days ago now that Riku had confessed himself to Sora, much to Kairi's disappointment Sora had returned the silverette's feelings; Which left the red haired girl back on the Islands, sulking like a Princess turned down by her Prince and completely pissed about it.
Still the brunette could not be happier as he entwined his fingers with Riku's, together they followed the King and his advisors into the now abandoned castle. "You going to be ok, Sora?" Riku asked softly, cyan blue eyes watching the other boy's face carefully, catching the nervous fear in his deep ocean blue eyes. Sora shook his head, his gut twisting with worry, the King had warned him, though he would be able to give Roxas a new lease on life, it left a high possibility of damaging their hearts; Leaving them trapped in a sort of waking coma, much the way a newly born Nobody would. "I-I think so...I can't turn back now Riku...I promised him I find a way to free him..I-I owe him at least this much...After...After everything I've taken away from him." Sora replied at last, looking up at Riku, who simply nodded; They had already discussed all of this a few days ago, before Riku had confessed and set out with him to find a way to free Roxas.
It was not long before the small group found themselves in the Room of Repose, a hidden room in the massive and confusion maze that was Castle Oblivion. The room was mostly white, like the castle itself, and had odd look symbols all along the walls that closely resembled the Heartless symbol; The King proceeded to explain that the symbol stood for the Keyblade Master's, a symbol that had long since been lost to the world after a man named Xehenort had sought to steal the heart of another in order to become young again. Sora and Riku looked at each other, then back at the King, following the mouse up to a throne that was set up in the center of the room with its back facing the door. When they came around to the front of it they found a sight that made both boy's pause, Sora's breath caught as a sudden flood of memories, none of which belonged to himself, assaulted him at the sight of the blonde boy seated slumped over in the throne.
Images of people and places, some familiar to Sora and others not, flashed through his mind. A girl with short blue hair, a boy with spiky brown hair, and the blonde that looked strikingly like Roxas. And names popped into place in his mind too, the girl was Aqua, the brunette boy was Terra and the blonde was not Roxas...But a boy, the same boy who sat in the throne now, a boy he suddenly realized he'd met as a child, named Ventus; Roxas's true somebody. "Ventus...?" Sora whispered aloud, Riku looked at him startled, the King nodded.
"That's right. This is Ventus, as I'm sure you figured out Sora, this is Roxas's true somebody..." The King explained, Riku looked to the mouse and frowned deeply, "But how? How did Roxas...Ventus, end up becoming Sora's Nobody?" The silver haired teen asked, the King looked at him, Sora was staring at Ventus with a blank expression. "Because Ventus's heart was once damaged badly and sought out another to fill in the missing pieces...Somehow it was Sora's heart that responded, back when he was a kid...And when Ventus lost his heart, leaving this empty shell, it took refuge in Sora's heart..." Mickey explained, but as Riku continued asking question Sora was dragged inside his own heart, back to that place in which he had first encountered his destiny; Dive to the Heart Station.
Sora drifted toward the station platform, landing lightly on his feet, he looked around, at first he thought he was alone; But to the brunette's surprise another was on the platform. Not to far from him was a familiar looking blonde, sitting on the edge of the colorful station, staring out at the darkness that surrounded it. Sora walked toward him slowly, "Ventus? Or is it-" The blonde cut him off, "Roxas...I...Remember now though...Before...how I got here...About being 'Ventus'..." The other boy explained, voice barley a mumble as Sora went to sit beside him, though the blonde seemed a bit sad, he also looked happy. "I'm going to be free soon...I can feel my body near by Sora...Then you can be free too."
Sora smiled, and for some reason he felt tears in his eyes, "Yeah..." He replied, voice thick with emotions, Roxas looked at him and tilted his head slightly. "Don't worry Sora...Despite what's happened I still want to be friends...I know you didn't have a choice but to defeat them all and I'm ok with that now...Somehow I feel like their all free now, waiting somewhere for me to come home. I can feel their hearts calling to me..." Sora nodded in understanding and the two looked off into the darkness as a light came into view. slowly growing brighter till it was all they could see.