Author's Note: Thank you to all of you that are interested in the completion of this story, reviewers and lurkers alike. I will do my best to get the rest of this up as soon as possible and I hope to start writing for the Kingdom Hearts fandom again as soon as everything gets a little settled down. Thank you for all your support!

Chapter 31—Pain, Panic, Lock and Shock?

Roxas wrapped his hand around Axel's and squeezed it so tightly that he was sure he was crushing the bones. The nightmare he was trapped in was unlike any other. The fear that he felt filled his pores and sweated out in thick drops. The girl before him, looking so innocent had an eerily happy smile on her face as she spoke to him. She held her hand out to him.

Come with me Roxas… to this world made completely for you. There's nothing to hurt you here Roxas. There's no Sora. No Xemnas and definitely no Axel.

"What' makes you think I want to live in a world like that?!" He snapped irritable and sudden he was staring at the crème ceiling that he and Axel slept under and the red haired man was prying his fingers off his abused flesh.

"Another dream?" Axel asked and Roxas could kiss him for not prying.

"Yeah." He moved out of bed and left the room before the red head could say anymore.

Radiant Garden at night is dreary and you can hear quite clearly the distant 'battles' of the patrols and the Heartless. The sky was still as death and there are almost no lights due to the fact that all they had now were generators salvaged from beyond the barrier to keep the buildings that were left lit. With all the work they took to conserve energy Radiant Garden at night remind him very much of The World that Never Was. He swung himself up onto a rail and stretched a leg out across it. He could see a storm coming in and that darkened the horizon even more if it were possible and he sighed softly.

"How can you stand to stay here?" He spun around slowly to see Olette as she stared at him.

"Because, someday it will be restored. And I'll live here. With everyone that I love." He wasn't feeling as afraid of her as he once did. He didn't know if it was because she couldn't hurt him or if he'd just become accepting of her presence.

"And then what? They're hearts are fickle. They'll change Roxas." She told him. "But where I come from, they'll never change."

"If their hearts are fickle. Then so is mine. I'm not some toy Olette. I have a heart." He pressed a hand to his chest as he dragged himself into a stand position.

"You have a heart now Roxas? I'm so glad to hear that." And the funny thing was, was that she truly looked happy for him. She reached out and took his hand and he was surprised to find that her hand was warm and soft like a real human's hand. "But that doesn't change the facts."

"And what are the facts? I… I love Axel… Can't you see that? That I'm in love with him? I have family here Olette. There's Sora and Riku and Leon and Demyx and Tifa and Laguna and Yuffie and—" She pressed her hand over his mouth.

"None of them matter Roxas. Didn't I tell you that? The world that I come from was created for you. The players are all in their places, waiting for their cue. Do you really want to keep them waiting forever for you Roxas?"

"I won't go!" He jerked back to his senses unable to believe that he'd actually let his guard down around her, thought that she could be decent. Her one track mind was bound to be the death of him.

"You don't have a choice anymore Roxas. This is the only way I can save you from the pain you built up for yourself."

"LET ME GO!" He tired to wrench his hand way but it was as if she'd somehow tied him to her.

He couldn't escape, he felt sick to his stomach and his head throbbed in agony. The world around him being to melt and decay. He was sure that he called out to Axel but he couldn't hear his own voice. Not even inside his own head. He fumbled a hand across the ground trying desperately to all the Kingdom Key or the Oathkeeper to him but neither came. The world burst into light so bright that he thought it'd burn out his retinas and then Roxas knew no more.

Sora wiped at the sand gritting on his brow in vain. Phil had them 'training' as he called it. But Sora just called it tedious. Spelled barrels were, quite literally flying around the ring in speeds that would make a NASCAR racer envious and he was slightly afraid that he was about to loose his head. Riku on the other hand seemed to be demolishing barrels left and right with seemingly no effort. It was just another way that Sora was sure he wasn't cut out to be the keyblade master.

"Loosen your form!" Phil called and Sora resisted the urge to mutter something unpleasant under his breath.

"Hey… Just chill out." Leon called and Sora paused for a second.

A barrel was flying straight at him and he sliced it before he turned and hit the other one coming at him. Confidence filled him and he began to move slowly, controlled. Let go of your nervousness. His mind whispered sounding remarkably like Leon and he let his movements become more fluid. He stopped thinking about his shortcomings. About how he'd screwed up with Xigbar and Hades. He just fought.

"Wow… I wasn't expecting that kind of talent from the kid." Phil muttered under his breath.

"Well, he is the keyblade master." Tifa smiled as she watched the two fighting. "He'll do good in the Pain and Panic. It's the Cerberus Cup I'm worried about… If Hades ups the ante."

"He'd have to break some major rules to even get us to look that way." Leon murmured. "The Pain and Panic is just to buy you and I some time to figure out if he's the one controlling the Heartless in this world."

"And if Hades… isn't the one?" Tifa asked as she looked over at him.

"Then we find who is." He looked back into the ring as Sora and Riku finished up. "Hades knows of me. I don't know how well that's going to do us. Sora and Riku will fight in the cup and you and I will apprehend Hades."

"Is it really going to be that simple?" She asked as she hopped up and sat on the ledge when the barrier disappeared.

"Of course not. This is the God of the Underworld that you're talking about." Phil stated firmly. "You'll need their help at worst. But Hercules asked me to give you this, just in case." He handed Tifa a smooth white stone. "This is the Olympus Stone, it's the only thing that'll give you a fighting chance against Hades."

"Well, isn't that good to know." Tifa muttered under her breath as she looked over the seemingly ordinary white rock and then noticed the shimmer of power flowing over it.

"Hey, if we do this right. We can get rid of the heartless on this world permanently." Sora called as he and Riku walked up. "I think that's something we can all agree on."

Leon shrugged and Tifa gave a non-committal agreement. They looked back and forth between each other unsure of what to say and then Phil finally spoke up.

"You all should turn in for the night. The rosters should be up tomorrow." He turned to walk away. "And be careful. There's only so much the Olympus Stone can do."

"We'll keep that in mind." Tifa murmured and pocketed the stone. "I think I'll be the one to hang onto this."

Kairi hadn't known she was claustrophobic. Well, she hadn't until she'd been forced inside a present box on the outskirts of Halloween Town. She was alone in her own box and somewhere there was Hayner. Or was it Yuffie that was with her? She didn't really remember at this moment and she didn't actually care. She just wanted out of the box. She was about to start pushing on the flimsy cardboard when it moved. Someone, literally picked it up. She could hear snickering and felt disappointment fill her. Heartless most certainly didn't snicker. She pushed her body weight against the side of the box and sent it toppling out of the arms of who ever

picked it up and came rolling out of the broken flimsy cardboard and came face to face with a scene she wasn't expecting.

Two large heartless, they're hungry eyes watching her impatiently. Were holding Christmas presents. The giggling that she'd heard had come from two… children that were looking at her confused.

"Who are you?" She asked calling Oblivion to her.

"I'm Lock!"

"I'm Shock!"

"And I'm Barrel!" Came a third child, that she now spotted sitting on top of one of the large heartless.

"Why the hell do you want Christmas presents?" Hayner growled fro where he crouched a few feet from her.

"Who says we hafta tell you?" Shock asked attempting and failing to glare them down.

"We do!" The two of them charged forward. For all their bulk the two heartless were fairly easy to take out which left them with three children that looked like death warmed over.

"Why were you taking the presents?" Kairi asked, hands on her skinny hips as she glared them down.

"Oogie Boogie told us to steal them." Barrel admitted.

"You idiot!" Shock smacked him. "Now Oogie's going to kill us!"

"Not my problem." Hayner snorted and stepped aside. "But here's a head start to saving your own asses."

The three took off running and Kairi turned pressing a hand to her chin as she thought and then she looked over at Hayner before speaking.

"We need to get back to Christmas Town. I have a feeling that Jack Skeleton can take us to Oogie Boogie himself. And then we can finish this."

"Think it'll be that easy?" The blond asked as they walked towards the Circle of Holidays.

"Worth a try right? The sooner we get rid of that menace the sooner we can get the hell out of here."

AN: Once again, thank you for all your support!