Rhiannon: Erm... it's new character time! I'm not saying how though...

Chapter 3—Keyblade Wielder

Sora sighed deeply. Since the day that he had been turned into one of those… things. His dreams of darkness had built up in frequency. He often times found that he attempted to avoid sleeping in the hope that maybe he would never have to sleep again. He didn't understand how Riku could be so patient with him.

"Here… drink up." Riku murmured as he appeared and handed him a bottle of water. "I heard today that they contacted a world that has agreed to send aid."

"That's good." Sora felt bad that he sounded so despondent. But ever since…

"Do… do you still think I'm one of those things Riku?" He asked the silver haired boy.

He shook his head firmly. "Of course not. I saved you. I'm not sure how but I did." He wrapped an arm around his younger friend. "You're my best friend. I love you."

"I love you too, Riku." Sora murmured before taking sips of the water. Everything was precious these days. "Do you think… that we'll all perish here… behind the barrier? Never really escaping… never really living."

"No. I have faith. I believe. There are whole other worlds out there. People who will understand and give us aid." Riku tapped a finger to the side of his head. "And you should be the bright happy Sora that you always were. Don't let this get you down. If you were a heartless you wouldn't have made it through the barrier."

"Heartless? Is that what they're called?" He looked up into ocean colored eyes.

"Yes." Riku sighed softly. "Kairi managed to gather some stuff to make a decent dinner now that we're getting food more regularly. You don't have to worry anymore. You aren't a heartless. You're just Sora."

"I think… I think I could enjoy that."

He was wiry, that was the best way to describe his limber form. He was wiry with flaming hair and green eyes… green like… colored neon lights. He wore the coat that signified him as one of Organization Thirteen, the ruling organization of the nobodies who answered to one person and one person alone. He was patrolling the streets of the world of Radiant Garden. It might have been a beautiful place once but now it was filled with heartless and nobodies.

He heard a scratchy, scraping noise and followed its source to find a teenage boy sitting in the middle of a building with the front blown off. He glared at the red hair man with angry eyes.

"Who're you?"

"My name… is Axel." His smile was predatory and the boy could only stare as he threw off the hood to reveal his bright hair and eyes. And the line tattoos that slide from the bottom, center of his eye down to just over his cheek. "And I've been sent to find you."

"Then you know who I am?" The blond asked standing up full and crossing his arms.

"This I do. Your name is Roxas… got it memorized?" He asked following the careful instructions that he had been given earlier.

"…How do I know what you're saying is the truth?"

"I guess you'll just have to trust me." He smirked at him fingers curled into loose fists just incase.

"I don't." The boy lifted his hands and two keyblades appeared in his hands and he dove at the man in front of him.

Axel smiled at the thought of a good challenge and brought out his own weapon of choice. Two flaming red chakram as he took his position.

"You're a nobody Roxas… A very powerful nobody… just like me. Fit to be a member of Organization Thirteen."

"I don't believe you." Roxas stated firmly and charged.

The clash of their weapons echoed through out the desolate city, the district as it was nicknamed was too far away to hear the sounds of their lonely battle. Axel merely smirked. Roxas wasn't yet strong enough to best Axel, that would take practice and work. He twisted breaking the stance and sending on of the keyblades flying from the young boy's hand before he spun and brought his elbow down on the back of his neck rendering him unconscious.

"You'll learn sooner or later Roxas my boy that I don't lie." He told the figure as the blades disappeared and he gather the boy up and over his shoulder. "And damn… I can't believe that Xemnas was right. The boy is the keyblade wielder."

Shaking his head Axel adjusted the weight on his shoulder and opened a portal of inky blackness before he proceeded to walk through it, leaving the place as if he'd never been there.

"So you really just believe this… faithfully?" Cloud asked the brooding young man that he had been introduced to, named Leon, the son of Laguna Loire.

"I do."

"And it never occurred to you that your father could have suffered a war injury and be batshit crazy." He asked as he looked up from the charred platform he stood on in what had once been Radiant Garden's train station.

"He wasn't injured in the war." Leon's voice was like ice; it wrapped around you and froze you to the spot.

"How can you be so sure?" Cloud asked quietly and Leon frowned, his handsome face scowling and the long scar that spanned across the bridge of his nose from forehead to cheek wrinkled.

"Because I trust my Father." He dug his weapon, a gunblade into the ground idly. "And I trust my Mother."

"I thought your mother was dead?" The blond asked quietly.

"She is." The brunette looked uneasy. "Nevermind. We should keep moving."

"What is it that your father knows about the keyblade? Why is it that he trusts so much?" He grabbed the young man's arm and forced him to turn around.

"Look… I don't know."

"You do!" He shook him. "You know why more then you let on… Why should we trust this? Why should we believe this?"

"My Mother…" Leon looked helpless and then he shut himself off, cold like the Shiva Goddess that Cloud use to read about in books as a child. "My mother wielded the keyblade and my father helped her to defeat the Sorceress Adel."

"That makes no sense! He said that Master Yen Sid taught her magic!"

"A wielder of the keyblade must be skilled in magic and weaponry."

"Like you! You're trained to be like her! Your father is hoping that you—"

"He's not… it's not like that." Leon closed his eyes and turned away from the younger man.

"Then what's it like?" Cloud crossed his powerful arms. "Make me understand it."

"My family is a branch off the Kagi Family… Our job is to… help the keyblade master or masters." Cloud chewed his lip thoughtfully as he considered this information.

He opened his mouth to comment when Leon lifted a gloved hand to silence him. He hadn't noticed that the air around them had gotten still and chilly, like a demon walking under them. Until he realized that there were. Shadow Heartless jumped from the ground into shape and attacked with trembling claws. Cloud blinked with awe as Leon swung his gunblade in a low arch ripping through the creatures before shooting one a distance away before he lifted his bastard sword and began to fight as well.

Through he had to wonder… What other mysteries were the Shiren-Kagi family hiding?

Yuffie kicked her feet up from where she sat on the edge of the building. She was lonely and she was bored… with a capital B. She had been waiting for Yuna to get off duty for almost an hour. Apparently Areith, the healer was running her into the ground. Then she felt guilty. Areith was doing all that she could to help the people of the town and Yuna… was a good healer. She jumped down from the building and run up the street past the broken sign to the Garden Medical center and pushed open the doors.

Inside was a young woman with long chestnut hair pulled back into a pink bow that matched her pink dress that reminded Yuffie of her short lived candy-striper days. She approached her quietly and jumped when she turned at the last moment.

"How can I help you Miss Kisaragi-Loire?" She asked her large blue eyes shined with caring.

"I'm looking for Yuna. Is she still here?" Yuffie asked tugging on her shorts.

"She left over an hour ago. Said she had to meet you at the tower." Areith paused. "She never showed up?"

"Oh no…" Yuffie turned and dashed out the door running at full speed back towards the outer edges of the barrier. She looked around but Yuna was no where in sight.

She bent over, hands on knees breathing harshly. The inside of the barrier was safe… from the heartless but not from lowlifes that might be hiding around in the bad parts of town. Yuna was much too nice for her own good… She drew in another deep breath into her lungs before she turned and ran along the barrier searching, she was completely unsuccessful. Where the hell could Yuna be?

"Looking for something?" She turned to see a tall figure who's face was obscured by his long black coat and hood.

"You have her don't you?" She asked staring at him wide-eyed.

"Have something of yours?" The figure had a masculine voice and he cocked his head to the side. "I'm afraid I don't have her."

"Then you're of no use to me." She turned and ran away still frantically searching for her friend.

…she never found her.

Rhiannon: Yeah... say hi to Roxas... erm... not very trusting is he?