"He's dead, isn't he." Roxas said quietly, and Axel sighed. It was early morning, and they had been awake for most of the night. Mongo and Kilsera had managed to find the servants, and Roxas had given some of the money Vexen had given him to them. They had left all their savings behind in his world, in the bank, and with the portal cut off they had nothing. What he'd been able to give them hadn't been too much… they had their own future to worry about… but it would tide them over until they found another place. But they hadn't found Vexen, and the maid had told them he was last seen going after the gardener. Who also hadn't been found.

"Yeah, he is." Axel hugged Roxas close as the blond began to quietly cry. Slow, heartbroken sobs.

"I never… got to give him… his rock…" Roxas buried his face against Axel's chest for a moment. "Never got to… say goodbye… never got to… tell him I l-love him…"

"Shhh. He knew, Roxas. And he loved you. That's why he sent you here, to be safe." Axel soothed Roxas as best he could. He understood his feelings perfectly. He'd never gotten to say those things to his mother either.

"So unfair… why? We just wanted to help Sora…" Axel said nothing at all, just holding Roxas until he finally cried himself to sleep.

It was all he could do. The truth… that life and death had nothing to do with fair… wouldn't help Roxas at all. They both slept fitfully and woke too early the next day and joined the trainees for breakfast.

"Uck. What is this?" Sora poked something on his plate dubiously. Axel glanced over then rubbed his face. He was so tired he felt a bit sick, and Roxas didn't look any better.

"Picked egg. Eat it." Sora looked dubious but tried it, then made a face. Breakfast at Mongo's was not what he was used to… or Roxas either, but Roxas just wasn't eating. There was brown rice with pickled vegetables, pickled eggs and plenty of oranges. Sora finally settled on the oranges as the best part. Axel cleaned his plate without complaint. He'd been eating this breakfast for five years. Lunch and dinner had some variety, but breakfast never changed.

"Uh, if you're not going to eat that can I have it?" A young man tentatively asked Roxas, who looked at him blankly and pushed the plate over. "Thanks!" He tucked in with gusto, and Axel smiled faintly as he remembered his own growth spurt. For a while, he'd never felt full, even when he was allowed seconds.

"Eat an orange, Roxas. We have some stuff we need to do today." Axel said quietly. Roxas looked up at him blearily.

"Like what? We can't go home and dad's dead." Sora winced and looked down at his plate. He was blaming himself for Roxas' problems. Axel shook his head.

"We need to think about the future, Roxas." Axel said softly, then sighed. "If you want, I can look into it for you." He gently touched Roxas cheek, and ran his hand through the spiky blond hair. "Maybe you should go back to bed." Roxas shook his head.

"No. I couldn't sleep, and I want to be with you." He didn't want to try to sleep in an empty bed. Not right now. Axel nodded, his green eyes sad.

"Alright Roxas." He sighed, standing up and carrying his plate to the bin. "We need to go see Mongo and Kilsera first. Figure out what we're doing." He had a few ideas, but they depended on whether or not the two would cooperate.

Mongo and Kilsera were in their office, and when he knocked politely on the door he was immediately called in. He winced faintly as he saw they had been sharing a breakfast… the same food they gave the trainees.

"I hope we're not interrupting?" Mongo grinned and ate a pickled egg as Kilsera shrugged.

"We can eat and talk at the same time. You're thinking about the future, Axel?" Axel nodded, and Kilsera smiled faintly. "So like you. What have you come up with?" She was sure Axel would have a plan ready to go. That was like him, too. Axel hesitated a moment, then shrugged.

"I was hoping you might be willing to teach Roxas and Sora how to fight, for a portion of the money Vexen left with us." Kilsera lifted her eyebrows as Mongo stopped eating for a moment, and they exchanged glances.

"We don't normally take students." Kilsera said slowly. "Although Sora has shown some aptitude, even in the brief time he's been with us. But are you sure this is what you want to do?" Roxas was frowning at Axel, unsure about this idea. Axel shrugged heavily.

"I don't know ma'am. But it's all I can really think of. The skills they have in their world aren't any use here, and I know the two of you… if they have any ability at all, you can make them into warriors. And mercenaries are always in demand. We could make a good living as caravan guards." Axel rubbed his face tiredly. "It's what I know." He could think of a few other things they could possibly do… wizarding or street performances… but those required talents too. And then Axel would have to find work by himself, and that would possibly split them up.

"Not a bad idea. But I'm not going to agree… unless we can test them out with the enchanted weapons first." Mongo rumbled, licking his lips. "You know we select all of you partly through divinations, Axel. I'm not wasting my time on them if they haven't the knack." Axel nodded. He knew what Mongo was talking about. Kilsera spent part of her time scrying, searching the oracles for hints of where a good candidate for their program would be found. The talents needed to be a bodyguard, courtesan, thief and assassin weren't exactly common. So they had very high standards on who they would teach.

"Would you be willing to do that this morning? Might as well find out now." If he had to come up with an alternate plan, Axel wanted to know right away.

"Do what?" Roxas rubbed his face with one hand tiredly. "I'm not up to much, Axel." Axel gave him a quick side hug.

"I know. You won't have to do anything, really… just touch the weapons. If one of them speaks for you, then you've got some ability." Axel called in one of his chakram. "My weapons spoke for me as soon as I got here." Roxas nodded.

"Wait until we finish breakfast, though." Mongo said with a grin, and Axel nodded. "Meet us in the weapon room."

"Sure." Standing, Axel went to go collect Sora and soon had him and Roxas in the weapon room.

"Wow!" Sora gaped at the rows of weapons and the suits of armor. Everything was kept in perfect condition, and the weapons gleamed. There was everything from whips to throwing stars. Roxas blinked, and walked up to something that looked like the bastard offspring of a pike and a scythe. Running a finger over it, he winced and jerked his hand back. He'd gotten a shock from the weapon. Axel watched with a smile.

"Yeah, that's not the weapon for you. Just take a look at them, and touch anything that feels good." Roxas frowned, sucking on his finger for a moment before he started to look through the weapons. A few of them felt tolerable, like a bronze shortsword, and he picked them up… but none of them felt right. Mongo walked in as he and Sora were still looking.

"Ohhh, what are these?" Sora called from the back of the room, and Mongo paced over to stand beside him. In his human form, he was a very tall, very bulky man with the same hair and ears as Kilsera. He licked his lips thoughtfully before he answered.

"Those are keyblades. Very rare, very unusual. We wouldn't have them at all, but the oracles demanded we go to a particular shadow world and told us to take what we could." Mongo grinned, a quick flash of sharp white teeth. "There were hundreds of the things, just scattered across the ground. But they all vanished as we touched them except for these. When we finished, we had nine." He gestured to the blades on the wall. "We have never found anyone who could use them. If you want to try, be my guest." A bit daunted, Sora and Roxas examined the blades on display.

Their appearances varied widely. There was everything from a very simple key of silver to a spiky blade of brilliant purple and orange. Sora tried to touch one of the prettiest ones first, but immediately pulled his hand back… the blade didn't feel right for him. Out of pure randomness, he grabbed the plainest next, the silver keyblade with the yellow hilt.

"OH!" The keyblade vanished in sparks, and Sora gaped at his empty hand. "Did I break it?" Mongo gaped at him for a moment as Axel and Roxas exchanged a glance, then he laughed.

"No! The keyblade bonded to you. Call it back to yourself." Sora blinked, and summoned the blade back. "Hah! Finally, a keyblade wielder. We will teach you after all. Do you know its name?"

"Uh… it's the Kingdom Key." Sora said after a brief moment, blinking. "I don't know how I knew that."

"That's normal for keybladers…" Roxas tuned them out as he examined the blades on the wall. Now that Sora had one… he really wanted one. It would be a real kick in the nuts if Sora was trainable and he wasn't. But he felt helpless as he looked at the blades. Slowly trailing his fingers over them, he finally stopped. The blade made his fingers tingle and seemed to speak to something deep inside him. He examined it closely… it was a very odd looking blade. The end of it resembled Axel's chakram's, but beneath that was icy spikes… and the hilt was a black and white checkered pattern with a black handguard. Yet somehow, it suited him, and he gripped the keyblade, lifting it up. Sora and Mongo both turned to look as the keyblade vanished in sparks. "Two of you? This must mean something." Mongo licked his lips again as he thought. "We will have to ask the oracles. But there must be great deeds in store for you. What is its name?"

"It's…" Roxas summoned back the blade and just looked at for a moment before he found the answer. "It's the Bond of Love." His breath came short as he realized what each part of the blade stood for. The hilt was himself… the end was Axel… and the frosty spikes were for his cold, spiky yet supportive father. "Oh, dad…" Roxas sniffed as Axel's arms went around him, holding him close. They keyblade vanished again as Roxas clung to the redhead, crying. But it was a clean hurt, now, and somehow… he knew he would mend.

And no matter what, Vexen would always be with him.

"Roxas?"

"Mmm?" Roxas glanced over his shoulder at Axel sleepily. They were in bed, finally getting some sleep… and nothing but sleep. Roxas wasn't in the mood for more and Axel was content just to cuddle him from behind. Axel smiled at Roxas and gently kissed his shoulder.

"I was just thinking. We need to modify the blood bond." That woke him up completely, and Roxas frowned.

"Why?" He couldn't see a reason they should. It was still going very strong from the original bonding. Unless… "You want to be free?" Roxas couldn't help but feel a stab of hurt at that. But Axel was doing so much for him now… much more than was in his job description. He deserved to be free if he wanted.

"Don't be silly. With how much your dad paid for me? No, that's not it. It's my contract." Roxas looked at him blankly, and Axel sighed. "Right now you've got to pay me every two weeks or the blood bond breaks. Remember?"

"Oh!" Roxas flushed, remembering the terms of the contract. That was part of the arrangement. Axel's salary wasn't too much… but they were paying Mongo and Kilsera a lot of money to get trained and stay in the training centre. Their nest egg was going fast, and it would eventually be gone… and when they were out there as mercenaries, Axel would be making just as much as him. There was an emergency clause in the contract, that payments could be deferred for up to six months, but this didn't really qualify anymore. And even if it did, he'd have to pay all the backed wages at the end of six months or the bond would break anyway. "I hadn't thought of that. What did you have in mind?"

"Well…" Axel hesitated, then smiled crookedly. "I wouldn't do this for just anyone. But I saw your keyblade." Roxas blushed again as he realized Axel had seen himself in it. But then, the representation of his weapon wasn't hard to spot. "I think we should just make it a blood bond in the old style. No more contracts… just the oath of fealty from a knight to his lord. That's what the blood bond was, a long time ago."

"But what would that mean for you?" Roxas didn't want to chain Axel even more firmly to him than he was now. Axel smiled, amused.

"It'd mean I could disobey you any time I chose, and you wouldn't have to pay me… but my loyalty would be yours. My heart would be in your hands." Roxas shivered as Axel breathed the next words in his ear. "But it is already. We'd just be making it official." The bond would still be one way in terms of pain… Axel would request that… but it could be made two-way in the sense that Roxas would be able to detect where he was. That would be very useful for a mercenary pair. Roxas wiggled around until he was facing Axel, looking up into his face, and Axel melted inside at the look in his big blue eyes.

"Oh Axel… I love you so much." Roxas kissed Axel, a warm, tender kiss. "What did I do to deserve you?"

"What did I do to deserve you?" Axel countered, and chuckled softly. "Just be yourself, Roxas. Just be yourself…" Roxas sighed faintly, and nuzzled Axel's throat for a moment before he started to doze off again.

It was a good start to the rest of their lives.

"Sora! Swing it harder! Hit me like you mean it! You're such a goddamn girl!" Only a few weeks ago, Mongo's basso roar would have sent Sora cowering. But now, the brunette pressed his attack, trying to obey the instructions. "Better!" Axel grinned as he watched the matches, resting from his own practice bouts. He didn't need training, but since he was there anyway he was helping with the other trainees. And it helped keep his skills sharp.

When he had started, Sora had had a terrible problem that he was just now beginning to get over… he was afraid of hurting his sparring partner. No matter how many times it was explained that the training weapons and armor had special enchantments that prevented anything more than bruises and the rare broken bone, Sora found it very hard to strike out. Mongo had finally solved the problem by giving Sora dozens of bruises until the boy started going on the attack out of sheer self defense. Which wasn't kind, but really was the best way to handle that particular problem. It wasn't the first time they had seen it, although it was usually something they got from girls… something Mongo didn't hesitate to remind Sora of.

Roxas was entirely another matter, and Axel turned his attention to the blond. He was sparring with a first year trainee and already showing a fair level of competence. He wasn't going to win any prizes yet and in a real battle he would be dead meat, but it was very good for only a few weeks. His sparring partner had been practicing for months and they were holding even.

"Hey Roxas! Kick him in the fork!" Axel called as he spotted an opening, and Roxas obeyed without thinking. The other trainee yelped… the armor protected him from most of the pain, but not all of it. "Good job!" Roxas grinned, then had to duck as the other trainee swore and tried to take his head off. Not that he would have, but the bruise could have been painful. The training match dissolved into wrestling as the other trainee tackled him and thumped Roxas' head into the mat. "Ouch!" Roxas demonstrated what he had learned of unarmed combat, and managed to turn the tables on the trainee, punching him in the jaw. Axel frowned… this was going a bit far. "Time out, you two!" He said in a tone of command, and they reluctantly separated. "Go cool off a bit." Temper didn't have a place in the training bouts, and it was clear they were both getting hot under the collar.

"Not bad." Mongo said as he put an end to his match with Sora. "Now, go spar with Roxas and don't you dare hold back!" Sora blushed… if hitting Mongo was hard, hitting his friends was even harder. But Roxas wouldn't hold back on him anymore than Mongo would. Soon the two were clashing blades, and Axel stood, going to some of the more advanced students.

Lunch came, and they all ate with tremendous appetite. Today's meal was beef and noodles with a spicy, minty sauce and roasted bell peppers. It was wonderful, and Axel sighed as he licked his spoon clean. He'd gotten very fond of this kind of cooking in his time here, and there was nothing quite like it on Roxas' world. The spices were from Mongo and Kilsera's home, which was a very strange place.

"So what are we going to do now?" Sora said enthusiastically, and Axel grinned.

Unlike the other students, they had no lessons in the evening. Mornings were spent on training, while evenings were spent on languages, foreign customs, assassination techniques… everything a well rounded graduate of Mongo and Kilsera's program would need. But it wasn't likely those lessons would be very useful for Sora and Roxas, and they'd managed to get a discount for leaving them out. Which was good… as it was, they were only going to be able to afford a year of lessons before they needed to strike out on their own. But Mongo and Kilsera swore that two keyblade holders should have no problem learning in that length of time.

So they had the evenings free to do whatever they liked. They didn't have much money that was unspoken for, but Axel had managed to do some street busking with his fire abilities. He didn't make much money at it, but they could sometimes go have a good time.

"Hmm, let me see…" Axel checked the contents of his wallet. "Ohh, I forgot that one guy gave me a golden straw! We can go do something nice. Hey, I heard Ya Tashra opened a new portal to some kind of beach paradise world. Apparently, they don't have a lot to trade but it's pretty much a tourist's paradise. Want to try it?"

"Sure!" Sora agreed and Roxas smiled. The great benefit of living in the Twisted World was that wonderful vacations were at your fingertips. In worlds that had something valuable to trade, the portals were usually situated in towns… but worlds that had little often had their portals in prime tourist attractions. And some worlds had more than one portal so they could have both. Axel personally suspected that Ya Tashra enjoyed being able to reach his favorite vacation spots instantly, but it was hard to prove. Certainly everyone else appreciated it.

The beach, when they got to it, lived up… or down… to their expectations. There was a massive party going on and vendors were selling food, drink and renting out surf boards. It was a little too crowded, perhaps, but that was easy to ignore when you got off the beach and into the water.

"Aaaa!" Sora tentatively tried surfing, and immediately took a spill. "Axel!" Axel grinned, expertly riding a wave and ignoring the sputtering brunette. "How do you do that?"

"I'm marvelous!" He called back and laughed. He was unaware of being watched.

"Sora, when did this party start up?" Riku was amused but mystified by the sudden appearance of so many strangers on the Destiny Islands. Sora scratched his head.

"Well, the mayor did say he was aggressively pursuing tourist opportunities." The Destiny Islands had always been a sleepy little place. But that meant it was rather poor in some ways.

"Yeah, but the mayor is a windbag. I can't believe he pulled this off." Riku frowned a little as a woman with a small lizard clinging to her shoulder walked by. "…And some of these people are really weird." That was putting it mildly. From where he was standing, he could see what looked like a wizard, wearing nothing but his pointy hat and swimshorts, reading a book in the sun. He could also see a little blond girl with pointy ears, a cat with bat wings…

He frowned as he saw two people surfing, and squinted, trying to make them out better. They looked… familiar.

"Sora, that kid over there… he sure looks like you. And the guy with him looks like Axel." That was beyond odd. The Nobody was dead… and Sora was right beside him. "And that kid looks like Roxas."

"Huh?" Sora pushed himself forward, and tilted his head to one side. "…They do. But they can't be! It's just a coincidence, Riku." He said it confidently. What else could it be? Riku nodded slowly.

"Yeah, a coincidence…" But he made a silent promise to himself to look into the mayor's tourism plans.

This was weird and he wanted to know more.