A/N-A bit short I know but I'm tired, it's late and I ran out of notes. I usually have a lot planned out ahead of time so this doesn't happen but I wrote so much this week I just ate up all of the plot. With that in mind, I probably won't be posting this weekend. I have stuff to do, I need a break, and I need more ideas. But don't worry, I have no plans to abandon this story! (The ending is planned. I just need to get there...) Anyway, have a good night/day! Read and enjoy! :D

"Come on, Axel. Demyx hung in there. You can't let him beat you," Riku called. With Aqua's help, Selphie was able to stabilize Demyx enough for Sora to bring him to the medical area. Riku had torn off his armor and shirt to press the fabric into Axel's back. "Aqua's heading over now. Once we get you stabilized we'll check on Roxas."

Once Xehanort had taken Roxas's heart, he had summoned his transport and left before anyone could do anything. Sadly, no one wanted to follow him because they were too busy trying to keep the pair of Knights alive. Roxas lay motionless on the beach. Oathkeeper lay by his side and Oblivion stuck gruesomely out of his chest.

Selphie knelt next to Riku and started working on the cuts. She handed Aqua an Ether to help keep her magical energy up. Aqua thankfully drank it before casting curaga a couple of times on Axel. His wounds slowly sealed to the point where his breathing evened and slowed. Selphie had Riku help get him into a sitting position so she could pour a MegaPotion over his back and let him sip from the remains.

"Aqua, please go check on Roxas," Selphie requested.

"Alright," the blue haired woman replied. She walked over to Roxas and pulled the Keyblade from his chest. Roxas was strangely still. Aqua suddenly feared the worst. She knelt down and pressed her check by Roxas's face. It was still. "Selphie! He's not breathing!" Aqua called. Selphie bolted upright and hurried over. She checked Roxas's vitals but it was as Aqua said.

Roxas was gone.

"Oh, Roxas…" Aqua murmured, brushing the hair from the young man's face. "I'm so sorry."

"Hey!" Riku shouted. The women turned to find Axel coming towards them. Riku had been pushed aside into the sand. Axel spun his chakrams around and fire built up on them.

"What the Hell?!" Selphie shouted. She ducked as Axel sent one spinning over her head.

"Axel, cut it out!" Riku ordered. He ran past the red head and stood between him and the women. Riku held out his arms, barring the way. Axel's chakram flew around and Axel caught it.

"We're not trying to hurt Roxas," Aqua pleaded. She stood and raised her hands in front of her, showing she wasn't going to do anything. Axel swung his chakrams and nearly decapitated Riku.

"Shit, Axel! Snap out of it!" Riku barked. "Selphie! Aqua! Get away from Roxas!" Aqua quickly stepped to the side and Selphie crawled away on her hands and knees. Axel narrowed his unfocused eyes. "Enough, Axel! Roxas is dead! Leave him be. You can't protect him anymore." Axel kicked Riku in the gut and kept walking. Riku hunched over in pain. He stepped away from Roxas. The Knight stopped when Roxas lay at his feet. He peered down at the blonde. Axel knelt and placed Roxas's Keyblades on his chest as if they were still swords. He placed Roxas's hands on top of the Keyblade grips. Then Axel rose and turned about face.

"Is he seriously still guarding Roxas?" Aqua asked.

"He's doing this all unconsciously. I doubt Axel even knows what he's doing right now," Riku replied. Selphie stood and went over to Riku.

"But why protect a corpse?" she wondered.

"Riku!" Sora called. The brunette had returned with Ienzo and Naminé. They grouped together and Riku explained the situation. Ienzo frowned.

"Axel must believe Roxas is still alive then," he concluded.

"How? None of Roxas's body functions are working," Selphie replied.

"We'll know for certain in a short while," Naminé brought up. "Xion crystalized and shattered after she died. I guess Aerith did the same. If Roxas's body is still here within the hour, we'll know he's not dead."

"That doesn't help us now," Riku stated. "Axel's going to bleed to death if we don't get him some medical attention."

"Ienzo, can you see anything?" Sora asked. Ienzo's brows furrowed and he shook his head.

"When I first saw Axel without a heart, I thought I couldn't see him anymore. Being around him more, my vision adjusted. There's a thin layer of light and darkness inside of him. I can see it in Naminé, Kairi and Ven too. Roxas has nothing. He's an empty shell," Ienzo explained. Sora sighed and ran a hand through his hair.

"Great. Maybe if we ask nicely Axel will take Roxas back to the med area and we can treat them there," he said sarcastically.

"I don't think we'll have to," Naminé muttered. Axel was starting to waver where he stood. He suddenly pitched forward, collapsing. Naminé dashed forward and caught him before he face planted into the sand. The group jumped into action. Sora and Riku half carried half dragged Axel back to the medical area while Naminé lifted Roxas onto Aqua's back.

The medical area was insane. Selphie had to call in medics from other islands to assist her in stabilizing both Axel and Demyx. Roxas was given a bed to lie on and Naminé cleaned him up. Then she moved onto cleaning his Keyblades. Sora helped Selphie and the medics around the tent while Riku set to writing. Ienzo ventured over to him to see what he was doing.

"You're deep in thought," Ienzo noticed. Riku looked up from chewing on his pen.

"I'm writing a letter to King Mickey explaining the situation. We need his help with this, as much as I hate to admit. I just wish I knew what to write," Riku replied, sighing heavily.

"Just do your best." Riku shook his head.

"It's not about Kingdom Hearts. I want his advice on the war. Where is it going? How far will we have to take it before it's over? Questions like that."

"Why don't you request a visit?" Riku turned to the kid and raised an eyebrow.

"You mean have him come to Destiny Islands?"

"Why not?" Riku turned back to the desk.

"Well, I supposed I've never thought about it." Riku tapped his pen to his lips. "I guess it's worth a try." Riku started writing again.

"Great. While you're at it, can I make a request?"

XxXxX

Where am I? Everything is gone. There's nothing there.

A pause to blink.

No. There's no reason to be here. There is nothing left.

Light.

A soft warm glow. Familiar. Friendly.

Tingle shivers down the spine. Lungs expand, reaching for air.

I remember.

Light.

XxXxX

"Oh, hey! HEY! It's working!" Sora shouted. Riku hit him over the head.

"Quiet! People are trying to rest," he hissed. Sora rubbed his head and pouted. Ienzo peered down at the bed. He waited patiently as the eyes scrunched up and blinked open, revealing a brilliant blue. Eyes stared up at the boy.

"Ienzo," he whispered, his voice strained.

"Welcome back, Roxas," Ienzo greeted.

Roxas blinked and turned his head back and forth slightly. It was all the movement he could muster. His body felt dead as did his feelings. As he looked at the faces surrounding him, he felt nothing for them. They were just faces.

"Give him one more shot," Naminé suggested. The small group parted to reveal a short woman in a large pink dress. Her black hair was tied up into a pair of large buns on the top of her head. Between them sat a gold crown with a garnet set in the middle. The woman had a friendly face. She held her hand over Roxas and her ring glowed.

"Faith," she breathed. A burst of light pulsed from her hand. Roxas felt his body absorb the light and grew stronger. His mind jolted as if he was sudden hit with a wave of caffeine. Roxas clenched his fists and sat up stiffly. Sora brought Roxas some water with a straw. The blonde gladly accepted it and sipped on it quietly.

"Is he okay?" he heard. Roxas's ears pricked.

'I know that voice.' He recalled.

"Be quiet! He's not going to get better with you nosing about," another voice said. Roxas tried to peer around Terra and Aqua to see who was talking. The couple noticed his actions and parted. Roxas simply started in awe. "See, he's just fine."

"Roxas!"

"Wait…wha…?" Roxas stammered. He was suddenly crushed in a bear hug.

"You're going to kill him!"

"But I've missed him so much!"

"Donald? Goofy?" Roxas said shakily. Goofy rubbed his knuckles against Roxas's skull.

"In the flesh!" he shouted.

"Don't do that," Donald protested, frowning.

"You're no fun…" Goofy grumbled. He let Roxas go and half sat on the edge of the mattress. "Oh! I suppose we should introduce you Roxas. Roxas, meet Queen Minnie." He motioned to the woman in the pink dress. Roxas's faced paled.

"Q-q-queen Minnie?" he stammered. He quickly tried to fix his hair. Minnie chuckled, sounding like tiny bells tinkling.

"It's alright, Roxas. I don't mind being casual. You gave your friends quite the scare."

"O-oh, right. I don't really remember what happened," Roxas admitted.

"We'll fill you in," Sora stated. Roxas lowered his gaze to his sheets.

"Thanks." The group split since they had all heard the story before. Sora and Minnie stayed with Roxas while the others went about doing their own smalls tasks. Roxas listened in silence as Sora retold his half of story. He tried to add a few details when he could but his memory was still fuzzy. His memories were stronger around the time the heartless was defeated and he could recollect the fight he had with Xehanort right before his heart was taken. Otherwise, Sora had to fill in the details.

The Queen didn't say anything while Sora talked. Roxas kept wondering why she was hanging around. When Sora got to the part about Axel's explanation, he felt very lost. Sora had to explain it several times before Roxas could comprehend what had happened.

"So, let me try this one more time," Roxas requested. "Axel saved me in Hollow Bastion because I had a strong heart. Isa and Saïx also spared me because I had a strong heart. Ever since Radiant Garden was destroyed, the light of Kingdom Hearts has been living inside of me feeding off my own natural light to grow strong again. I was made a Shard because of three things. One: Axel gave me a transfusion of his own blood, sharing the Radiant Garden bloodline trait to be able to carry Kingdom Hearts in my heart. Two: Isa destroyed her Shard by hurting Ienzo. Three: by coming into contact with Axel's Keyblade, his Shard cloned itself into my heart and connected the two hearts together.

"I have two Keyblades that I can wield because Kingdom Hearts is in my heart. One is purely for the light, the other the Shard. Removing the light extinguished my natural light, thus consuming me in darkness. This was heightened by the fact my own lights stores were depleted after fighting Xemnas. With so little of my own light left, when Kingdom Heart's light was removed, the darkness took over. After Axel dispelled the darkness from within me, I was left without light or darkness. So, when Xehanort took my heart, I was left a shell or an empty nobody."

"That's right," Sora agreed.

"So how did you revive me then?"

"Well, Ienzo got the idea that you just needed something to hold onto that you were familiar with. Since you couldn't hear us or sense us, we had to take a different approach."

"Light magic."

"Correct. Riku wrote to the King requesting for him to visit Destiny Islands to talk in person. Ienzo asked if he could bring Queen Minnie with to try and revive you."

"How did you know it would work?" Sora shrugged.

"We didn't. We knew you weren't dead because you didn't disappear like the others did. It's been about three days since then. We were skeptical at first since all we had to go on was Axel's unconscious will to protect you."

"That's because he chose me to hold onto when he lost his heart. It's the last memory he has and he's determined to keep it safe. I am intrigued how you managed to bring him around to save Demyx though."

"I think it has something to do with that natural instinct again. Axel must have protected Demyx from people before so when Demyx's life was on the line, Axel reverted out of his 'protect Roxas' mode. We've been trying to bring him around since."

"How are Demyx and Axel? It sounded like I beat them up pretty bad."

"Axel's been doing fine since we got him stable. Aqua's healed him enough with her magic that he can heal the rest on his own. Demyx is still fluctuating. The damage to him was extensive. We weren't sure why until Donald explained to us summoning takes a lot out of a person, physically and mentally. I remember when Demyx summoned Sin he passed out for days. Summoning that Aeon to help must have worsened his internal bleeding. You just dealt the final blow." Roxas squeezed his empty cup angrily.

"I can't stand thinking I nearly killed them. Especially Demyx. He's been nothing but friendly to me and I keep bashing him down. I feel like such an asshole." Roxas fingers ripped through the plastic and he frowned. Sora took the cup from him and set it on the bedside table. He patted Roxas's hand.

"You weren't in the right state of mind. No one blames you. Besides, Axel tried to kill Riku and we beat you up pretty badly too. You've seemed to have healed up nicely."

"No offense, but that doesn't really make me feel better," Roxas muttered. Minnie stood from her chair and walked over to Roxas. The blonde stared up at her in confusion. Minnie poked Roxas on the forehead. Roxas felt a jolt of warm energy surge through his body. For a moment, he felt a lot better but then the feeling faded back into empty emotions.

"Memories can help bring emotions to the surface. Sensory memories may bring brief emotions but it can always be a relief for an aching chest," Minnie said calmly.

"I'll try to remember that." Minnie chuckled softly.

"Your friend Naminé seems to have figured that out already. Try to learn from her." Roxas lowered his gaze to his lap.

"Um, your Majesty…"

"Please, just call me Minnie." Roxas felt his cheeks flush. He touched them with his fingers and wondered where the feeling had come from. Roxas lowered his hands and started again.

"…Minnie, how has this war affected you? You seem to be doing well." Minnie sat on the edge of Roxas's bed, the layers of her dress pressing into the blonde's side.

"I manage. Mickey's rather stressed but he doesn't like to admit it."

"Is he here?" Roxas looked up at the Queen. Minnie nodded with a light smile.

"Would you like to meet him?"

"W-what?" Roxas blinked. "Meet the King?!" Minnie and Sora chuckled.

"You don't have to be embarrassed dear," Minnie urged.

"Roxas is just too old fashioned to let go of his soldier mentality," Sora explained.

"Ah, I remember now. You were the one who escorted Donald and Goofy in Twilight Town. They seemed to have taken a liking to you. They were rather worried after learning about your world's destruction but they were quite happy when you showed up out of the blue to get new armor. I thought Goofy was going to explode when he saw you were here. He was ready to bounce off the walls." Roxas smirked.

"Yeah, that sounds like him."

"Donald seems to have taken a liking to your friend Ienzo. I often see them together talking about magic. I take it he wants to be a mage some day?"

"Yeah. His brother's good with magic and he wants to be just like his brother." Roxas was hit with a sudden thought. "Oh! Your Maj-…er…Minnie, Xemnas isn't the rightful King," he explained.

"Oh?" Minnie perked up.

"That's right!" Sora remembered.

"Ienzo's brother, Zexion, is supposed to be next in line. He's in Hollow Bastion in critical condition. But the people of Hollow Bastion look up to him. If he tried to take the crown, he would have their support."

"That is some interesting news. It's sad to here he's injured. Cure spells are so hard to learn and even then they can only do so much. What do you suggest we do?" Minnie asked. Roxas fiddled with a string sticking out of his sheet.

"If we could get a large enough force gathered to draw the attention of the soldiers, and perhaps the Knights, we could stage some sort of coup against the King. If Hollow Bastion's supporters learn their leader is a fake, they'll rethink their alliance. During that time we could strike at Castle Oblivion while the worlds are still lost in the confusion. We'll take our best fighters straight to Saïx, Isa and Xemnas."

"That's a solid plan. But we also have the unpredictability of Kingdom Hearts added to this. We can't be sure what it can or cannot do." Roxas paused for a moment to chew on the inside of his lip.

"When I was in Traverse Town, Xemnas wanted Isa to go back to Hollow Bastion. Saïx mentioned that she would be useless if she couldn't contain Kingdom Hearts. What do you suppose that means? Are they going to use Isa as some sort of vessel?"

"They very well could be. If that's the case, we'll have to be extra careful." They were interrupted by the sound of a dog barking. A large yellow lab came bounding into the medical area and bounded around Minnie's feet. "Sit, Pluto," she commanded. The dog sat down and panted happily. Minnie scratched his ears. "Good boy."

"He's always liked you better." Roxas and Sora looked up. Everyone else in the room well enough to move either bowed or stood at attention. Roxas felt like an idiot because he simply stared. King Mickey was a bright individual. He wore red armor with yellow and black accents. His sword hilt was lavender. His legendary blade was said to have the power of the stars. The King himself was fairly short. In fact, he stood only an inch higher than Roxas. The band of his rich black hair kept falling into his face no matter how many times he attempted to brush them back. He wore a gold crown similar to Minnie's only his had an emerald in it.

The King spotted Roxas and smiled, walking over. "Hello there." Roxas simply gaped. Minnie chuckled lightly. Mickey had to join her and he scratched the back of his head. "You're somewhat of a celebrity here it seems. I'm a bit honored."

"N-NO! I mean…I'm not…your Majesty!" Roxas sputtered, finally bowing his head. Mickey went over to the side of the bed opposite of Minnie and sat on the edge of the mattress by Roxas's knees. His smile was bright and friendly.

"Please, just call me Mickey. Do you mind if I call you Roxas?"

"No! Not at all!" Roxas kept his head bowed out of respect. Mickey reached out and lifted Roxas's chin. His eyes were black but filled with light.

"You don't need to bow to me. Here, I am just a friend." Roxas nodded vigorously since he didn't trust his mouth to get words out. "Have you put your gear to good use?"

"Yes sir! Reliable as ever."

"That's good to hear. When I heard a refugee soldier from Twilight Town wanted new armor and had come to Disney Town to get it, I was rather intrigued. I didn't have to press hard for details though. Goofy pretty much told me everything. He's not the best with secrets."

"So I've noticed." Mickey ruffled Roxas's hair and stood. He clicked his tongue and Pluto bounded over to his master energetically.

"Get some rest Roxas. We'll have more time to talk tomorrow." Mickey turned to Riku. Riku nodded and he followed the King out of the medical area. Minnie stood as well followed by Sora. Sora left to his own devices while Minnie turned back to Roxas.

"Would you like another Faith spell? I'm not sure if the light magic will wear off or not over time but it might help you feel better as you sleep," she offered.

"Sure. Not to sound creepy but it feels really nice," Roxas replied.

"Light can make a person feel good but too much light is bad too. I'll wait until tomorrow before we'll see if you need any more. Maybe by then your own light will have started working again."

"Alright." Minnie placed a hand on Roxas's head.

"Faith." The light burst and Roxas felt almost giddy. Minnie smiled and kissed the top of Roxas's head. "Now get some rest. Try not to use your light magic until we figure out how to take care of you, okay? We don't need you to wear yourself down again." Roxas nodded and crawled back under his covers. The light magic radiated through his body making him feel as if he was lying in the sun. Minnie whispered her farewell as Roxas closed his eyes.

He evened out his breathing and tried to calm his churning mind. Roxas found sleep wasn't coming easily. He cracked open an eye and looked over at Donald. The mage caught his staring and raised an eyebrow. Then he walked over.

"Something the matter?" the white haired man asked.

"Can't sleep," Roxas muttered. "You don't happen to know any sleep spells, do you?" Donald smirked.

"Do I know any sleep spells?" he scoffed. "Of course I do."

"Could you use one for me? I'm too jittery to fall asleep." Donald knelt and placed a hand on Roxas's hair.

"Sleep," he cast. Roxas immediately felt the effects and drifted into a dreamless slumber. Donald smiled and shook his head, standing.

"You haven't changed a bit Roxas. You're still that child that just wants to be a kid again but was forced to grow up too fast. Funny." Donald turned and headed back over to where he was before. "The ones that care the most need the most nurturing."

A/N-Musical Muse: Um, it's a song by Busker Busker but I can't read Korean so I can't tell you what the song name is. Sorry. (No ownership)