A/N-Another chapter. One a day, wow I'm doing REALLY good. :D Read and enjoy! (Oh and if you want the feel of the story, when Demyx starts playing pop on some pretty guitar music ^^ If you're curious to what I listened to while writing see A/N below.)

The G. Ship ride was taken in relative silence. Naminé was the only one who wanted to chat so she went to the front and talked with Rikku. Ven lay on his parent's lap. Aqua stroked his hair gently while Terra rested his head against his love's hair. Seifer idly started to clean his gunblade, oiling the barrel with a small kit he kept in his pocket. Roxas stared out the window. It was soon apparent he didn't want to talk. Naminé and Aqua made several attempts but Roxas ignored them, favoring the view of the window.

"What's up with him?" Rikku asked, jerking her head to the side while motioning towards Roxas. Naminé shrugged.

"I wish I could say but I think he's hurt," the fair haired blonde replied.

"He looks fine to me. Well, maybe a bit battered but he's seen worse, hasn't he?"

"Not like this, at least not for a long time. The pain of losing Aerith, a good friend, and Xion, someone he learned to love, was too much for him. Add on top of that three of his friends lost their hearts and he failed to take down the King when he had the chance."

"Ouch. Wait, three? All I see is you and Venny. Who's the third?"

"Someone you wouldn't know."

"O-o-o-o-o-h. I get it. Think he's having flashbacks to when, well you know, Twilight Town went kaboom?" Naminé scowled at the bouncy blonde. "Okay, okay. Sorry. Just trying to fly here. Maybe we should think of a way to cheer him up." Rikku popped her gum she was chewing loudly.

"He just needs some time to think. If he tries to do anything…you know…we'll be there to stop him. He's been through a lot."

"So have you."

"It's not the same. I hid in Traverse Town while the worlds tried to fix their problems. Roxas was on the battlefield working the front lines for five years. Before that he was working by running messages and helping his parents in the factories. So he's been through more than I have."

"Seifer went through that shit too," Rikku brought up. Naminé let out a huff. She figured she wouldn't get anywhere with the conversation so she changed topics.

When the G. Ship arrived at Destiny Islands, they were greeted by Sora, Riku and Kairi. Rikku opened the door and squinted at the bright sunlight.

"Whoo! I need to come here more often to work on my tan!" she commented. "Alright everyone! Hop off! I have things to do today still." Seifer stepped out first and sneered at the trio. Riku frowned, instantly disliking the man. Naminé followed. There was a pause between the sisters. Then they sprinted towards each other and embraced.

"Naminé!" Kairi cried, seeing the state of her sister.

"Kairi! You wouldn't believe what happened! Oh, am I supposed to be excited? No?" Naminé chuckled and held her sister at arm's length. "Sorry, I can't feel anything. It makes it all so confusing. But I'm so happy to see you! Er, sort of." Naminé smiled anyway.

"So you lost your heart then?" Kairi asked quietly as Terra escorted Aqua out of the ship. Ven was sleeping on his father's back.

"Unfortunately, but I'm okay. Really. I'm starting to get used to it but it's still really weird."

"How are you still lucid? Axel's practically a zombie."

"So Axel is here! Yay…oh wait, can't feel it. Damn it. I'll have to talk to him later if I can. For now, we need to catch up. Pronto!" Kairi giggled.

"What's gotten into you? You're so much more bubbly."

"Roxas kind of broke my shell."

"Speaking of Roxas, where…" Kairi stopped as Roxas stepped off the ship. "Nam, what happened?" Roxas looked like shit. His eyes were hollow and unfocused. His gaze was downcast and he didn't turn to anyone. When Sora jogged over to give his greeting, Roxas shrugged off the brunette's hand and wandered slowly from the beach. Naminé frowned.

"Xion didn't make it," she said quietly. Kairi's eyes went wide. "She was something special to Roxas and they never really got a chance to say good-bye to one another when Roxas left to go help Axel. Speaking of which, what did he do?"

"Now that's a long story," Kairi replied.

"Then we'd better get started."

"Let me find you something to wear first. Shower off and then we'll talk," Kairi suggested.

"Right!" Naminé said with a nod.

Rikku took off shortly after. Terra and Aqua were well received by the locals and a whole new round of 'Ven looks so much like Roxas!' started up. The sisters broke off from the group to talk. Seifer made himself useful and reported to Wakka to help with the mech work.

Roxas was a different story. He deactivated his armor and strode towards a bed in the medical center. He crawled under the covers, curled up, and blocked out the rest of the world. Demyx and Ienzo stopped by later after they heard the G. Ship's arrival farther down the beach. Ienzo was excited to see Roxas again but his mood quickly changed when he entered the medical area.

Demyx peered down at him with a puzzled expression. "Something wrong?" he asked.

"Dem, what's wrong with Roxas?"

"I don't know. From what Sora was saying it sounded like all the Shards in Traverse Town lost their hearts and a couple didn't make it. Poor guy must be grieving," the musician replied, scratching the back of his neck awkwardly. Ienzo took a hesitant step towards the lump buried underneath the sheets.

"Roxas?" Ienzo asked quietly. No response. The boy quickly turned back to Demyx. "Dem, there's something really wrong with him."

"Grieving is natural. Let's just leave him be."

"No!" Demyx was taken aback by Ienzo's sudden harshness. The pointed at Roxas. "Something is wrong with him. I can see it. I just don't know how to describe it. It's like he's being swallowed by a heartless and he's not even trying to hold back. What's wrong with him, Dem? Is Roxas being consumed by darkness?" Demyx frowned. He wished he could see like Ienzo did so he knew what the kid was talking about but no such luck was given. Demyx turned to Axel, who was on the bed next to him.

"Any thoughts on the matter?" he asked. Axel's reply was to stare blatantly at the ceiling. Demyx sighed and crossed his arms, pinching the bridge of his nose with his fingers. Ienzo walked over to Roxas and knelt next to the bed so his face was level with Roxas's. The blonde cracked open his eyes and stared back emptily.

"Welcome home," Ienzo muttered. Roxas grunted softly, lowering his gaze. Ienzo reached out hesitantly. Then he ran his hand over Roxas's golden locks. Roxas closed his eyes has Ienzo's fingers gently smoothed back his hair. He slipped his hand from beneath the sheet and clasped it around Ienzo's free hand resting on the boy's knee. Ienzo flipped his hand around so their fingers tangled together. "Roxas," he spoke softly. "You've done enough. Get some sleep. We'll be here for you when you wake up."

"Promise?" Roxas murmured softly. Ienzo rose up on his knees and wrapped his arms around Roxas's head.

"I promise. I won't leave your side." Tears slipped from between Roxas's closed lids and spilled onto the sheets.

"Thank you," he whispered. Ienzo sat on the bed and felt Roxas curl around his lower back. Ienzo gently stroked the man's face with one hand while Roxas clutched the other tightly. Ienzo turned as he heard Demyx sit in the chair on the other side of Roxas's bed. The man pulled out his sitar and pulled his lanky legs up onto the chair. He plucked at the strings and then started to play softly. The melody was slow and heartfelt.

"I haven't heard that song before," Ienzo commented.

"Yeah, that's because I've been working on it for the past few days," Demyx replied.

"Does it have a name?"

"I don't typically name my songs."

"Hm. Well, it's pretty none-the-less." They sat in silence listening to Demyx pluck at the strings of his sitar. Even Axel appeared to be enjoying the soothing music as he closed his eyes.

It wasn't long after when the screams arose from the other side of the island. Ienzo felt his hand being crushed in Roxas's grip. He stared straight ahead and wrapped his other hands around the blonde's, squeezing back. Demyx kept playing. He closed his eyes and tried to block out the noise. Ienzo flinched as more shouts rose followed by an ear piercing scream. He felt his body shaking and his grip on Roxas's hand tightened.

"Kairi," Axel muttered, opening his eyes. Demyx glanced in his direction

"Xemnas must have found her," he commented.

"Do you ever feel bad for standing on the sidelines?" Ienzo asked, glancing over his shoulder.

"It's not my fight. Even if I tried to help I wouldn't know what to do. What about you? Do you ever wish you could have done something more?"

"I used to. When they took me away from my brother, I realized something that I never understood before. I had the world backwards. I used to try so hard to please everyone around me that it only made me feel alone. You can't please everyone. Someone will always hate you for something. So I stopped. Instead I just started doing what I thought felt right. And you know what? Things changed. People changed how they felt about me. Take Larxene. I know she's kind of a bitch…"

"Kind of? You are talking about Larxene here," Demyx interrupted. Ienzo chuckled.

"Right. I used to do everything she wanted when she had to escort me. It made her sick that I was just a dog to her. So one day I stopped. I didn't do what she wanted. And you know what? She beat the crap out of me." Demyx couldn't help but smirk. "When she was done, I told her I wasn't mad at her for what she did. It really threw her for a loop. Then she beat me up again."

"One thing I won't miss from her."

"The next time she escorted me to Xemnas's throne room I asked her about her family. "What do you care?" she snapped. I told her I wanted to know how other families were since I've never really met them. I only had Lexaeus and Zexion. She punched me and didn't reply. When she took me back to the stasis chamber, she said she had a little sister once that died in the war. Larxene didn't say anything else but to me that was enough. After that she wasn't quite so bitchy."

"She did sort of take a shine to you. I have to admit, hearing her chew out the Queen was probably my favorite memory of her. She was vicious!"

"So I heard." Demyx played silently for awhile.

"Are you okay? You know with what happened with Isa?" Ienzo chewed on his lower lip.

"I'd be lying if I said I didn't hate her. I'll never forgive her for what she did. Yet I refused to let that hate consume me. Hate only drives others away. I want to be there for people when they need me."

"I'd say you're doing a damn fine job so far." Ienzo shot Demyx a smug look.

"And Roxas complained he was a bad influence on my language." Demyx grinned sheepishly. Ienzo felt the grip on his hand loosen a bit. He glanced down and found Roxas had passed out into a troubled sleep. Ienzo released his top hand and started to stroke the man's hair again. "Hey Dem? Why did you help out my brother? You didn't have to save me. They never intended on killing me. So why'd you do it?" Demyx sighed and lowered his gaze to the floor.

"I guess I sort of understood what he was going through, being an outcast and all."

"You want to know something funny? He actually looks up to you."

"Wait, Zexion?!" Demyx nearly dropped his sitar out of shock. Ienzo nodded. "B-but why? What do I have that's to admire?"

"You're smile."

"Huh?"

"Not matter how bad things got and no matter how bad someone treated you, you always had a smile on your face. Zexion could probably count on his fingers the amount of times he smiled during the war. Do you remember the day you guys met?"

"Well, sure. I was in the training core and he passed by in his lab coat all sullen and mopey. When his eyes caught mine, a smiled. I thought I sacred him because he took off running." Ienzo snickered.

"That sounds like Zexion all right. You guys were eighteen, right?"

"Yeah…four years ago already. I kind of forgot how long it's been since I joined the Knights. It really makes you think back to what else you missed."

They looked up at the sound of running footsteps. Sora was sprinting towards them, blood staining his armor. Demyx kept playing and Ienzo remained seated. Sora slid to a halt and tried to catch his breath.

"Guys…Isa…she and Xemnas…" he panted.

"They got Kairi," Ienzo finished. "We kind of figured by the commotion but Axel muttered her name awhile go so that's what we assumed happened."

"Right. How's Roxas?" Sora walked over and peered down at Roxas's sleeping face. The blonde looked to be in a lot of pain.

"Finally asleep." Sora breathed a sigh of relief. "Does he know about Kairi?"

"I think so." The brunette ran a hand through his locks.

"Damn. Well now Xemnas has all of the pieces, minus the light. Isa wouldn't shut up about it as she was fighting."

"Is everyone alright?" Demyx asked. Sora nodded.

"Yeah, we're all okay. Kairi's kind of in a daze like Axel is but she lived. Naminé is watching over her now. It wasn't much of a fight to be honest. Naminé was too weak to fight so it was only me and Riku. Even if we had more people it wouldn't have mattered. They came too fast and were so overpowered the pair could have wiped out Destiny Islands by themselves. I'm just glad they didn't. I heard from that Seifer guy Roxas took on the King by himself. If that's true then Roxas must be one damn good fighter."

"He's earned his rest," Ienzo stated, brushing a loose hair from the blonde's face. Sora nodded and took a deep breath, exhaling slowly.

"Will he be okay?" he asked quietly. "Naminé made me come check up on you guys."

"Give it some time. He's been through enough trauma for one day."

"Right. I'll head back to the others. Naminé's on her way here with Kairi. I figure we'll put Ventus here too just so we can keep an eye on everyone together."

"That's fine. Go get cleaned up." Sora gave a wave and headed back the way he came but at a slower pace. Demyx started to change up the song he was playing. The melody wasn't quite as smooth but it was still soothing to listen too. It reminded Ienzo of afternoon's listening to his brother read aloud in the sun.

Naminé arrived with Kairi shortly after. She had cleaned up and was wearing a pale yellow sun dress. She eased Kairi onto a bed and tucked her sister in before pausing at the sight of Demyx and Ienzo. Naminé walked over and peered at Ienzo's face.

"Hi," Ienzo greeted flatly.

"Hello," Naminé replied, giving a light smile. "You have really pretty eyes." Ienzo snorted and burst into a fit of laughter. "What?" Naminé was worried she said something wrong.

"Don't mind him. He's blind," Demyx stated.

"Oh! I'm sorry! I didn't know. My name is Naminé. I'm Kairi's sister and a friend of Roxas's."

"Ienzo," the boy stated. "From Hollow Bastion. Roxas and Demyx brought me here after saving me from Castle Oblivion."

"So you're why Roxas left. I see." Naminé closed her eye and smiled brightly. Then she turned to the musician. "So you must be Demyx."

"Pleased to meet you," Demyx greeted.

"Where are you from, might I ask?"

"Oh, here and there." Naminé giggled.

"You don't have to hide your past." She walked over to Demyx and poked the crystal hanging around his neck. "Atlantis, right?" Demyx smirked and ran a hand through his white hair, which he had finally gelled back into place.

"You don't miss a beat."

"I try not to." Naminé sauntered over to Axel and peered down at him. Axel stared back at her with blank eyes. "Hey there. Sleeping in again?" she teased.

"Naminé," Axel greeted dryly.

"So you can speak! Everyone keeps telling me you're a zombie, Axel! Try to liven up a bit." The red head didn't respond. Naminé sulked but then recovered after realizing she couldn't feel disappointment. She turned back to the pair sitting next to Roxas and strode over the foot of the blonde's bed. "So now what?" she asked.

"We wait?" Ienzo guessed.

"You aren't honestly going to sit here the entire time Xemnas is looking for the light and twiddle your thumbs? Or in Demyx's case play his sitar."

"Not the entire time," Ienzo protested.

"Meh. If you're really stuck on doing something you can help me decide what color to dye my hair," Demyx offered. "White just doesn't do it for me." Naminé crossed her arms and cupped her chin with her fingers.

"How about…brown?" she suggested.

"That's pretty plain."

"Okay, then how about this? Chocolate brown for your bangs and sides, oak for the rest." Demyx mused over her color choices.

"I suppose I could give it a shot. Worst comes to worst I wash the dye out and start over."

"Do you want to do that now?"

"Um, sure. You okay by yourself Ienzo?"

"Go have fun with your hair you goof," the boy replied, shooting Demyx a bemused face over his shoulder. "I'll stay here with Roxas until he gets up." Demyx uncrossed his legs and stood, pulling his sitar over his shoulder. He ruffled Ienzo's hair before leading Naminé into town to find some hair dye.

XxXxX

Roxas woke with a pounding headache. He pressed his face deeper into the mattress and pulled the sheet over his head. He felt someone poke his forehead.

"Roxas…come on," Ienzo pleaded. "Don't be like this." Roxas slipped the sheet from over his head and peeked out. Ienzo frowned. He had moved to a chair beside the blonde's bed. "You're acting like a kid."

"Have to sometime," Roxas replied, muffled by the sheet. "Had my childhood robbed from me after all." Ienzo rolled his eyes.

"I see you're going for smug ass hole today."

"And you're going for whiney little bitch."

"Touché. Should I leave you alone to your period?"

"Find me a chocolate bar and I'll be dandy." They both paused at an unexpected sound.

Axel chuckled.

Roxas sat up and peered over at Axel while Ienzo looked to Roxas for an answer. "Huh, that was weird," Roxas commented.

"I think he's slowly coming around. Maybe one day he'll be like your friend Naminé."

"You met her?"

"She was nice. Demyx really hit it off with her over hair dye." Roxas let out a bemused sigh. "Speaking of which, should I get you something? You haven't eaten in awhile."

"What, do I look a bit pale?"

"Har har. I'm serious Roxas."

"So am I. No, I'm good." Roxas noticed Kairi's sleeping form. "So she's gone too," he muttered. Ven was lying in a bed on the far side of the tent, his parents absent. Roxas huffed and got out of bed. "If anyone comes looking for me I went on a walk, okay?"

"Need to clear your head?"

"Something like that. I'll just walk around the island and I'll come back. Maybe I'll be hungry by then." Ienzo nodded, feeling better than Roxas was slowly turning back into his old self.

"Alright. I'll find you something to eat for when you get back."

"Perfect. I'll see you later." Roxas waved and headed for the beach. Ienzo stood from his seat and went into town. He got some snacks from a convenience store and brought them back to the medical center. Ienzo suddenly wondered if Axel was hungry since the red head hadn't eaten since his arrival. He walked over and poked Axel's cheek.

"You hungry?" he offered.

"No," Axel replied blandly. Ienzo shrugged.

"Just thought I'd offer." He decided he also wanted to take a walk and went down to the beach. Ienzo ran into Sora and Riku as they were watching the water.

"Hey!" Sora greeted.

"Roxas must be awake," Riku noticed.

"He's on a walk," Ienzo commented before sitting between the pair.

"That's good to hear. I was a bit worried about him when he got back," Sora admitted.

"You're taking this whole situation rather well," Ienzo noticed. Sora shrugged.

"I guess it's not worth worrying over more than the rest of it. It's a war, right? People are going to die and stuff. Plus Kairi survived so that's good too." Riku chuckled.

"Always the optimist," he commented.

"So what's the plan?" Sora asked, turning to his friend.

"Xemnas just needs the light and according to Kairi the light was lost."

"That'll buy us some time to work up a plan to get all of those hearts back."

"Right. I figure we can use Demyx to create a counter strike. We'll need to rally some allies first. I'm sure the people of Traverse Town would be more than willing to help out after what Xemnas did to their world."

"Good idea. We should also contact King Mickey. I'm sure he'll want to be a part of the counter strike," Sora suggested.

"Perfect! The Disney tech would be a huge advantage against the Hollow Bastion soldiers. I'll be sure to write him a letter," Riku agreed.

"If it's a formidable force, we might be able to get some help from the inside," Ienzo commented. "I'm sure Lexaeus would be more than welcome to help take down the Queen after what she did to me."

"What did she do?" Sora asked. Ienzo frowned.

"I'd rather not talk about it," the boy muttered quietly, lowering his head in shame.

"Oh, right…well you don't have to. I'm sure we'd all appreciate Lexaeus's help. If we play our cards right and luck is on our side, we might be able to save your brother."

"If he's stable," Riku added.

"Yeah. So how many Knights would we have to deal with?" Sora asked.

"Based on the information I gathered from Aqua and Demyx, they're only a few left: Lexaeus, Xaldin, Luxord and Saïx. Then we have the King and Queen on top of that," Riku replied.

"So at least five power houses," Sora mused. "Great."

"We'll have to draw the Knights out of the castle."

"All two of them? Saïx wouldn't leave his sister," Ienzo brought up.

"If we could somehow separate the three," Riku pondered. Sora suddenly brightened.

"Well what if we tried…"

He was cut off as a large beam of light shot into the sky. Everyone pressed their hands to their ears as it emitted a sound like birds scraping forks against chalkboards. The ground shook and the light turned black. The air suddenly grew cold. Very cold. They could see their breath puffing from their mouths.

"What is that?!" Sora shouted over the noise. Ienzo stood and faced the dark light. His eyes went wide and he started running, Riku and Sora close on his heels.

"What is it, Ienzo?" Riku pressed.

"It's Roxas!" Ienzo cried, stumbling over his feet on the uneven sand. Riku pulled him upright and they kept running. They reached a fork in the beach where a path branched off back to the medical center. "You go ahead!"

"Right!" Sora called. Riku let go of Ienzo and followed Sora farther down the beach. Ienzo hurried to the medical center. Demyx and Naminé came running in at the same time.

"Ienzo! What's going on?!" Demyx shouted over the noise, which was thankfully dying off.

"It's Roxas but…"

"But what?" Naminé pressed.

"He's covered in darkness."

Sora and Riku ran around the point on the beach and they suddenly slowed. Their eyes were cast upwards as dark clouds amassed over the beach, crackling with violet lightning. The sand was covered in a pool of pure darkness and at the center was the largest heartless they had ever seen. Sora tugged on Riku's arm and pointed at the base of the heartless. Roxas was standing on top of the dark pool, blades created from black and violet static. He spotted the pair and grinned wickedly.

His eyes the color of sulfur.

A/N-Musical Muse: Ven's Theme Original lyrics by Lizz (see previous chapter for details); Roxas's theme played on the guitar by Even (YouTube: EvanFingerstyle), Naminé's theme

(Again, no ownership, again, not being paid, again good talent deserves credit)

And for those dying of curiosity to what Demyx was playing, it was indeed Roxas's theme and Naminé's theme. (Don't own the melodies!)