Rhiannon: Um... I have nothing to say for this segment... Wait.. yes I do. I'm really enjoying writing this and um... next week might get a bit interesting... with my next surgery and all that... but I should still be able to get plenty of updates going... I have plenty stockpiled...

Chapter 12—Brief Respite

Sora kicked up the dirt on the ground as he and Demyx sat, practically surrounded by lionesses as the king spoke with his wife and the shaman inside the den. To be honest, they were both rather bored and had run out of things to talk about after about an hour. Neither boy particularly liked to be quiet and to be honest this place was giving Demyx the creeps.

"You think Leon's going to send out a search party soon?" The blond asked his… he wasn't sure what Sora was to him as they sat and waited… and waited.

"He ought to with the way this is going." Sora rolled his eyes.

"The King has decided." Rafiki stated as he exited the cave.

"And what has he decided."

"That the keyblade master and any friend is welcome in the Pride Lands… aide will be given." The mandrill smiled at Sora and snorted at Demyx.

"We thank the King for his kindness but right now… we uh… really must be getting back to our friends."

"Might I go?" Simba asked as he exited the cave. "I would certainly like to meet some of the people you told me about.

"Uh… sure…" Sora smiled sheepishly, he didn't think Leon would like the fact that he was bringing around the natives. Not that he had an option to decline the offer.

He led the king of the lions to the crash site as Demyx made idle conversation… if there was one thing Demyx could do well, it was talk on and on about nothing. He just hoped that Leon didn't kill them.

"Wow… I've never seen anything like this…" Simba murmured as he stared at the ship.

Ever from a distance the Highwind was the most impressive thing in this place, simply due to its color. Sora smiled at his wonderment but tried to well… not freak out as he saw Leon staring at him from a distance. Figuring the lion wouldn't eat Demyx, he probably wouldn't taste all that good anyways, he ran forward to… explain the situation to Leon.

Instead he got tackled by a laughing Riku as the silvery lion cub dived at him causing them to both roll across the dry earth. He smiled up at his friend and head butted him. Leon was looking over at them with an exasperated look on his face.

"The king of this world decided to um… come and meet you all." Sora shrugged his shoulders and then turned back to Riku as they begin to play fight.

"…morons." Leon muttered under his breath, but really he didn't really begrudge them anything, after all, how many more light hearted moments would they get.

"My name is Simba… and you are?" The lightly colored majestic beast approached Leon.

"I am Leon." He nodded to him. "We'll leaving as soon as our ship is ready."

"I'm sorry to hear that." Simba sighed lowly. "Maybe when you come back, this place will be beautiful like it use to be."

"What do you have to report?" Xemnas asked the intruder upon his solitude as he stared at his slowly building Kingdom Hearts.

"Ansem has been defeated." Saïx spoke behind him, standing almost completely still behind his superior.

"And for our side?"

"Larxene unfortunately was killed." Saïx didn't sound very sad at the fact, exaggerated or no, then again Saïx had no use for false emotion.

"That is too bad… but she wasn't really all that useful… This does unfortunately put a major kink into our plans."

"So what shall we do?" The scarred man asked and Xemnas turned to face him.

"Why my dear Luna Divider… we still have two very perfect pawns. Maleficent and Pete. And then after them… Marluxia and Naminè… You should learn to trust my plans."

"Of course." He agreed even though he knew he'd never really trust his superior. He served him based on wants, not needs. He wanted a heart… but he didn't need one. He wasn't willing to sacrifice himself for Xemnas plan and he was sure that the other nobody knew it. "You have so many pawns… It rather makes me wonder."

"You shouldn't have time to wonder. Go and see what Maleficent and Pete are up to." Xemnas ordered voice hard.

Saïx nodded and turned to leave. If he could smile he would have, finding Xemnas' buttons was getting easier and easier.

Roxas was sure that by the end of this he'd want to kill someone. Now in khaki pants and a black shirt with a jacket he certainly didn't feel as much like a nobody as he did before. He was on duty with Cloud who was had been stead fast in his attempts to mistrust him. He threw his hands up above his head and nodded. It was kind of different fight for the other side. He'd pretty much given up his powers of the Darkness and was no longer allowed to use the samurai nobodies… though he did on many occasions steer them away from the town when nobody was around.

"Hey!" He looked up to se the blond staring at him from a broken building, his large bastard sword lying against the wall. What Roxas wouldn't give to be able to just lift that thing.

"What!" He called back standing up straight.

"All clear?"

"All clear!" Roxas could admit that he rather liked it here in Radiant Garden. Many people didn't even know that he was a nobody and those that did were nice enough not to spread it around. He rolled his shoulders and looked off towards the distance. If only something wasn't missing…

"Hey! Get out of your head! Heartless!" Cloud's yell jarred him from his thoughts and he spun to see a cloud of heartless.

He turned and stared at the almost carpet like stretch of shadows. He cracked his knuckles and called on his blades. This was going to be easy. Shifting into a stance he took off running towards them and was stopped by a large blue shield. He jumped to avoid true impact and landed behind the offender. He wore a long black coat and Roxas would recognize him anywhere.

"Hello Vexen." He stood up fully, and the Chilly Academic turned to face him.

"Of all the places to find you Roxas… I never expected it to be on a washed up world like this." He sneered before he turned and blocked Cloud's sword.

"Stand down Cloud." Roxas called to him walking forward slowly. "I have a feeling that Vexen knew that I was here all along… Did Xemnas send you?"

"Xemnas? Of course not." He pushed Cloud back and turned to face him. "Unlike some, I do not need Xemnas to tell control my every move."

"Well, that's good to hear." Roxas smiled.

"You could come back Roxas… if you were to return to the Organization there would be punishment but Xemnas would forgive your transgression or… maybe he would never even know about it." He cocked his head to the side.

Roxas laughed. "I do well on my own and I make my own decisions."

"But don't you want a heart Roxas?"

"That's none of your business!" The boy charged and dived forward bringing one blade against the shield before turning and whacking him in the side with the other one. "You forget that I am the better fighter."

"Brawn isn't everything." Vexen shoved him back and sent a wave of watery ice towards him. Roxas dove out of the way.

"I can admit that… but having the brains to use the brawn helps." Roxas taunted as he lifted up the keyblades and took the shot of ice and managed to move before it froze entirely.

"Still fast." He smiled at him.

Roxas could definitely say that of all the members of Organization Thirteen Vexen was one of the ones not on his list for wanting to fight. It wasn't because the stoic blond was an extremely good fighter, but mostly because he was a distance fighter while Roxas preferred closer quarter fighting. He shifted his stance and then ran at him.

"Idiot." Vexen shot magic at him, freezing Roxas' leg solid.

The keyblade wielder went down hard but managed to cut deeply into Vexen's coat. The shield master staggered forward a step. Roxas used his frozen leg as a weight to pivot and watch him. Vexen watched him closely, almost as closely as Roxas was watching him. Both waiting for the other blond to make a move.

"I think I might fall asleep." Vexen murmured as he watched him. "By the time you actually get through my defenses I might be an old man."

"If cause you forgot in your age, old man, I've already gotten a hit in!" Roxas charged but Vexen was ready for him swinging his shield wide blocking both of Roxas blades before forcing him back.

The young keyblade wielder growled more annoyed at himself then at Vexen. He should have known it all along. He let the hand the held the Kingdom Key swing loosely. Vexen arched an eyebrow at him and took a low, prepared stance. Be prepared for this!

Roxas ran at him an in the last minute spun around him, catching the Kingdom Key against the side of the shield, nearly breaking the keyblade again before swinging Oathkeeper into his back and spinning away.

Vexen stumbled forward when he was released and fell forward gasping. He collapsed to one knee and turned to watch him. Roxas narrowed his eyes at him and before Vexen could fully stand charged him again. He jumped at Vexen forcing him to block over and over again before he did a roundhouse kick that removed the shield from his hand and swung again tearing through his midsection with the Oathkeeper.

He stopped and let his hands drop to his side and stared into Vexen's cold blue eyes. "I think I win."

"You've grown Roxas… As a fighter and as a tactician… I never stood… a chance." He collapsed into darkness.

Roxas found he couldn't say anything with the proud way Vexen had spoken his last words. He walked over to the ice blue shield and picked it up only to have it evaporate into darkness from his hands. He sighed softly, wondering what exactly this meant now. Now that his betrayal of Organization Thirteen was so real.

"You did good kid." Cloud whispered from where he stood, having watched the battle.

"Too bad it doesn't feel that way." Roxas murmured as he turned and headed towards the barrier. Now he just felt more like an outsider then anything else.

Sora had to admit as the ship took off, that he'd miss the Pride Lands. But for now, they had their own world to get back to. He had a fear though that this was about to be what would happen to them. Constantly traveling from world to world. Always fighting for some cause, for someone else. He was too good hearted to say 'no,' this he knew but… the fighting would end someday. He'd let himself believe that.

"Hey! Why the long face?" Riku asked from where he sat next to him, seat belt firmly in place.

"Just thinking." Sora murmured and Riku poked him hard.

"You thinking? Must be making you tired huh?" He teased and Sora play swatted him.

"I think plenty!" He cried in mock rage before dissolving into laughs along with Riku and Kairi.

They were his best friends, people he would trust his life with and he knew that that went for them as well. He sighed deeply, maybe the future wasn't as bleak as he made it out to be. A warm, pale hand grasped his and he looked over at Riku again.

"Seriously Sora… what's up?"

"I… I don't want to talk about it right now." He gave Riku his brightest grin. "Can we talk about it when we land?"

"I'll hold you to that." And Sora nodded knowing he would.

After they landed without too many more problems, between Leon's flying and Demyx's shooting there was no chance for the enemy ships. They went their separate ways. Demyx with Leon to go and attempt to explain what the King had told them and whatever Demyx was willing to add. Kairi took a shift on patrol, but that was probably because Hayner was out on one.

And Riku followed Sora up to the roof of the Loire household. Sora was looking out into bright day light with an almost forlorn look on his face and Riku decided he didn't like that look on his face. He hopped up on the ledge and watched him idly.

"What'cha thinking about?"

"You… Kairi… the Heartless." He murmured quietly.

"I don't know if I should feel insulted or flattered." Riku deadpanned crossing his arms.

"No, no… not like that." He turned and leaned against the ledge. "Doesn't it affect you at all? On any given day a heart we destroy… A nobody that we kill could be a member of our families."

"More specifically… my family." Riku pointed out. "This is because there were no survivors on the Islands isn't it?"

"No… Maybe… I don't know." He scrunched up his nose as he thought. "A little."

"Sora…" Riku took a slid off the ledge and stood in front of his friend and held his hands in his. "Yes, every heartless and nobody that we… kill… was once human. But do you really think that they wish to live this way?"

"But what about the nobodies that are like Demyx?" Sora pointed out and Riku sighed irritably and closed his eyes leaning his forehead against Sora's.

"To be honest… I don't know really what to do about any of this. People like Demyx aren't evil… they're a victim of circumstance. But above all… I believe in saving this world. In stopping Xemnas and Ansem. And I believe in staying with you." He opened his eyes, blue to blue in the shades of sky and ocean.

"Riku." Sora breathed staring up into his friend's eyes, his best friend.

"HEY!" They jumped apart and turned to face Yuffie. "I've got someone for you to meet. Come on!"

And that was how Riku and Sora found themselves in the presence of one Roxas, the Key of Destiny. Needless to say… it was interesting.

Rhiannon: You know... I never planned for this story to be that long... All I really wanted was to write a little something in which Demyx lives, Axel gets a heart and they all live happily ever after... My muses never make anything easy...