Author's Note: Rar probably mentioned that this was going up. It's a direct continuation of... chapter 166 in her fic. She's explained how it fits in no doubt. As far as it fits into my universe, basically, Axel's going to Hollow Bastion to check on the DCP and he ends up in the wrong Hollow Bastion. Goodness, Axel. Anyway, more in-depth discussion on this will go up on my blog probably tomorrow (I'm trying to finish an essay today.) Rar wrote the first half and I wrote the second half. There's some overlap, but that initial reaction from both of them is just too much gold to get rid of either of them. Anyway, enjoy!

EDIT: The last part of this chapter didn't make it in for some reason. Rar wrote that. Anyway, that's important. Whoops. It's there now.

If there was one thing you could count on while staying in Hollow Bastion, it was the Heartless. Even if they didn't show up until the third day into his stay here, they still showed up. And there were a lot of them, and that meant battle.

Not that Riku minded. He'd take fighting Heartless over just about anything.

Except, maybe, spending time with Namine, of course. But that was sort of given.

'Though, there are chances I might not be able to spend time with her again,' Riku reminded himself, his mood darkening quickly. That's why I'm even staying at Hollow Bastion for a week. To see if I'm causing her meltdowns.

He swallowed, driving his blade through a nearing Armored Knight to distract himself from that thought. That was not what he needed to be thinking about right now.

He scanned the area, trying to see what everyone else was doing. Leon was helping Aerith out with the Heartless she was dealing with. Yuffie was making her way out of the house at a very slow pace, shuriken dangling by her side, clearly exhausted. It was fairly early in the morning, though. He couldn't really blame her. Cid was… coming his way.

"Riku, the Heartless tend t' be worse down by the Bailey," Cid said, driving his spear through an Armored Knight that was in his way. "D'you mind—"

"No," Riku replied without hesitation. "Where exactly am I heading, though?" He didn't know how to navigate this town that well.

"Oh, jus'-" Cid sighed. "I'll show you the way."

Riku nodded, and followed Cid.

It didn't take them long to get to the Bailey. It was, for the most part, a very ruined part of town, with the path on the right leading up to what looked like a Castle, and the path on the left leading to who knows where.

There were quite a few Armored Knights in the area, but Riku launched himself at the larger flying Heartless instead. He wasn't quite sure what they were called, but they were basically a larger version of the Red Nocturne. Their fire attacks were a pain, but Riku was able to kill them in just a few combos apiece. It wasn't long after that he and Cid finished off all the Armored Knights.

"Alright, now what?" Riku asked, fingers tightening impatiently around his blade.

"Jus' wait," Cid said. "There'll be more."

"There's more over there," Riku said, pointing to an area off in the distance. "Should we—"

"The main priority is keeping them away from the rest of Town," Cid answered before he could finish. "So we don' need to worry 'bout them unless they come this way."

"Yeah, but, why wait for them to come to you?" Riku started off.

"Now, Riku!" Cid called, stopping him. "I don' really think—"

Riku turned back to him. "Look, if it bugs you that much, you can stay here. I'll be fine on my own. Really." And he started off again before Cid could argue. Since Cid didn't follow after him, he assumed that was that.

He was ambushed by Neoshadows almost immediately, but they weren't hard to take care of. Neither were the rest of the Heartless in this area. Well, the Armored Knights and small flying Heartless that kind of looked like buckets weren't. The large green round Heartless—which he thought were called Morning Stars—were a bit harder to get rid of. They were large and strong, which meant it took quite a few more hits before they'd eventually die.

With that area cleared, and more Heartless ahead of him, Riku kept going. The next area was a trail through a ravine. Of course, the trail was on the walls of the ravine, which meant there was something of a drop.

Three Morning Stars appeared. Riku launched himself at the first, taking care to keep his back to the wall of the ravine, so he could see where the ledge was. He landed one, two, three hits and jumped back.

Or, he tried to jump back. The second Morning Star came crashing down next to him, making him lose his balance mid-jump. He landed, stumbled out of the way before it could nearly crush him again. The third Morning Star hit him with a spinning attack, knocking him back before he could finish recovering.

He flew back a few feet before hitting the ground and—

Wait a minute.

Wait.

Crap.

He was skidding off the edge.

He fumbled for a handhold, fingers digging into the dirt. He was able to hold on, but that didn't stop gravity from pulling the rest of him of the edge. He yelped in pain as weight of his own body wrenched his shoulder out of place.

He swore and dug his fingers in harder.

He was going to fall.

There was no way he was going to be able to hold on with his shoulder hurting like this.

He banished his blade—he didn't even know why he was still holding onto it—and tried to grab onto the ledge with his other hand, but that just made his shoulder hurt more.

He swore again.

The very, very, distinct sound of Heartless dying reached his ears. Okay. Good. He was saved.

"Cid!" he called. If he could get Cid's attention, then they could figure out how to get him up. But they better do it soon. His fingers were slipping. The pain in his shoulder was making his vision blur.

Someone swore.

It wasn't Cid.

They shouted something about vertical dark corridors, but Riku hardly heard it.

Because that was Axel.

What the heck was he doing here?

Filthy trai-

Shit.

His fingers slipped. He was falling.

This sucked.

Except, before he'd even fallen five feet, a dark corridor enveloped him. He cursed himself for being an idiot and not thinking of that himself, and then landed unceremoniously on the ground on the ravine trail.

He groaned in pain. That'd still been a fall of about four feet. Plus his shoulder—

No. Now was not the time. He pushed himself up with some difficulty, but at least it was only his left shoulder that hurt unbearably. Which meant he could summon his blade again. So he did. His eyes locked on Axel, because, sure enough, it was him.

"Give me one reason I shouldn't kill you right now," he spat.

"Uh, what-" Axel was clearly flustered. Everything in his voice and body language screamed it. "I just saved your life!"

"Yeah, but that doesn't change the fact that you're a traitor." Riku started to point accusingly at Axel, out of habit more than anything else, but stopped before he'd gotten even halfway into the action. That really made his arm hurt. He bit his lip, stifling the cry of pain that wanted to come out, and let his arm fall back to his side. He'd be sure to… keep it there.

"Thanks to you," he continued, voice cracking with the pain despite his attempts to keep it even. "We don't have the Program, and—"

"Whoa, hold on!" Axel raised his hands in surrender. "I'm not that Axel."

Riku paused, stared at him.

What?

"So, what, you're a Replica?" he asked, incredulous.

xx

Axel arrived in Hollow Bastion, right over by the ravine, where all the Heartless tended to be. He needed to get a darkness reading. Well, rather, an eyeball of how many Heartless were around. Cid and Leon were going to come by later and get a reading on Cid's darkness-tracker, or whatever it was.

Like Axel had suggested, Aerith had gotten Ienzo involved in Hollow Bastion's restoration, which meant they knew exactly why all these Heartless were around. Stupid Xehanort. When would they be done dealing with his crap?

Probably never, if Axel was completely honest with himself.

It had been a month since Ienzo had told them what was actually going on, with the DCP and all. Hollow Bastion was on borrowed time. They were still trying to figure out how they were going to get to the Castle to fix this problem.

Axel looked down. Something was wrong. There weren't very many Heartless. Well, sure, there were a lot of Heartless, but not as many as there had been two days ago. What had changed?

Suddenly, Axel heard a battle cry.

Riku?

What was Riku doing here?

Last Axel had checked Riku was…

He located the source of the sound.

Ah. That wasn't Riku.

Well, it was Riku.

It just wasn't Riku.

It was the Riku Replica.

Axel could tell these things.

Which probably meant that Vexen was around her somewhere. Probably. Maybe not.

Just then, said Riku Replica fell off the edge. Axel winced. That's not fun. He caught himself, but only barely. His arm twisted in a weird way that could not have been good. Axel heard the yelp of pain.

Just then, seven Neoshadows showed up right around Axel.

"Oi," he muttered. "I've had enough of you."

He summoned his chakrams and dealt with them accordingly.

"Ya'll are so much easier to get rid of when I've got Assassins to take care of you," he muttered, lighting the ground on fire. Good thing the cloak he was wearing was fireproof. Axel himself may be fireproof, but his clothes weren't always.

As soon as the Neoshadows were all gone, Axel turned his attention to Riku. Somehow, the kid was still dangling there. Though, he was swearing up a storm. Then his fingers slipped.

Axel swore. He wasn't going to be able to make it back up.

"Form a vertical dark corridor!" he yelled. "Then drop yourself into it!"

He wasn't sure if Riku heard him, for the kid fell and no corridor appeared.

"Oh this had better not hurt my heart," Axel said, forming a corridor under where Riku was falling.

He hoped that because he was forming the dark corridor to help someone, his heart wouldn't take too much damage. Right?

Riku dropped right in front of Axel.

I'm getting better at those, Axel thought.

Riku groaned, probably in pain. He pulled himself up, summoned his blade, and glared at Axel.

"Give me one reason I shouldn't kill you right now," Riku spat.

"Uh…" Excuse me? "What? I just saved your life!"

"Yeah, but that doesn't change the fact that you're a traitor!" Riku bit his lip. "Thanks to you, we don't have the Program, and—"

Oh. Right. I'm usually a dirty-rotten traitor.

"Whoa! Hold on there a minute!" Axel put up his hands defensively. "I'm not that Axel."

Riku stopped and raised an eyebrow. "What, so you're a Replica?"

Axel laughed. "You're the second person in this universe to assume that. The first one being myself. Or rather, my other self. No, I'm not a Replica. I'm not even a Nobody. I'm technically a Somebody. From another universe. Your home universe. I'll grant you though, usually I'm a horrible traitor. It's a phase. I'm sure I'll get over it. What brought this on?"

Riku stared at him, blinking. "Uh… Roxas," he muttered.

"Ah, yeah. That'd do it. So, anyway, as you can see I'm not…"

"Man you talk a lot," Riku growled, raising his blade. "How do I know you're not lying?"

Axel was glad his chakrams were already summoned. Just in case. But summoning them now would only bring on a fight. The Riku Replica had anger management problems. Understandably so, but still…

"You were created by Vexen under Marluxia's orders as a test for various reasons. Unfortunately, Larxene kept interfering, which is why your memories kept getting rewritten..."

"Please," Riku scoffed. "Anyone could figure that out. I'm fairly certain the Organization here can figure that out from the memories they got off of me. You could just be reciting stuff from that that."

"Riku, I was there," Axel said.

It was true. He was. Back when he didn't have emotions. When he didn't care. Poor kid…

He definitely didn't see my best side.

Riku took a step forward, his blade still bared.

"Let me tell you something that didn't go on the record then," Axel said, smirking. "Towards the end of your stay at Castle Oblivion, you wanted more strength. You wanted to be able to take on who you called the "Real Thing" and survive. You wanted Namine to yourself. So I pulled you aside, and I told you that you could absorb someone else's energy. And I took you to Zexion and you did just that. And let me tell you, that did not go on the record because I would have had to file the paperwork for it. Because I'm a lazy-ass who didn't want to."

Riku's eyes went wide. He lowered his blade some.

"That was you."

"Admittedly, not my best moment. However, I'm not the traitor you think I am. Traitor, yes. Not the one you're looking for."

Riku growled.

"Oi! I just saved your life. Can we stop this?"

Riku lowered his blade the rest of the way.

"Now, about your shoulder," Axel said, banishing one chakram and digging into his pocket. Yes! He was wearing the right cloak.

"I have some bandages if you…"

"I'll have Aerith fix it."

"That's fair," Axel conceded. "And, if that's the case. I'll probably be going. Stupid faulty star shard, taking me to the wrong universe…"

Though, star shards do this thing, where they take you where you need to be going. And that isn't always where you thought you needed to be going.

Maybe Axel needed to be here. To save Riku.

There was a thought.

"Thank you," Riku muttered.

"Hmm?" Axel said, turning to the boy. Had he heard that right?

"For saving me," Riku said, still quiet. Axel noticed he was holding his shoulder. But Axel also knew that he didn't want help with that.

"It's what I do," Axel said with a shrug.

xx

Riku started to turn and go—he should really have Aerith look at his shoulder—but something made him pause.

"You said- you said your star shard brought you here?" he asked.

Axel nodded. "Right."

"Which means…" Riku trailed off.

Which means anyone else from our—that—universe could come over here whenever they wanted…

"It was more of an accident than anything else," Axel said.

Riku nodded. "Right."

I shouldn't be surprised though. Joseph's gone to the other universe a few times. Nothing stopping them from coming here…

Maybe they already have…

He swallowed.

"I should, y'know, be going," Axel said, jerking his thumb over his shoulder. "Unless you want to ask me anything else."

"Actually, uhm." Riku swallowed again. His throat was getting tight. "Just. Just one more thing."

"Shoot."

"How's- how's Namine doing?"

Axel was visibly taken aback by that question. Which was a surprise. How had he expected anything else?

"Um, well," Axel scratched his head, shuffled his feet a bit. "Uh, she's fine." He said, finally. "She draws a lot."

Riku chuckled. No surprise there.

"She and Kairi are great friends," Axel finished, with a shrug.

Riku nodded. That was- that was good to hear.

"Um, does she-" He stopped. No. No, he better not ask that. Of course she wouldn't. Why would she ever mention him? He was the mistake everyone would rather forget about. He was the embodiment of the darkest part of her life. Of course she wouldn't talk about him. She wouldn't even want to think about him.

He squeezed his shoulder slightly, biting his lip to avoid crying out. But the pain anchored him. He shouldn't be thinking like that. All it did was make him feel sick. Or was that the pain that was making him want to puke?

"Does she what?" Axel asked.

Riku shook his head. "Is she… she happy?" There. That was a safer question.

"Yeah."

"Good. She better be."

Axel laughed.

Riku couldn't help but smile, too.

"What about you?" Axel asked.

"Me?" Riku raised his eyebrows, a little surprised. Axel was asking him, if he was, what, happy? Heh. Like anyone would care. Oh well. "Yeah, I'm. I'm alright," he said, nodding. "I'm in a lot of pain at the moment, though."

"You should probably go see Aerith about that, then," Axel said.

"Yeah." Riku nodded. Yeah, he really should.

"Do you want me to, I don't know, pass a message on to her or something?" Axel asked.

Riku shook his head. His heart wrenched. "No," he choked. "No, you don't- you don't even have to mention me."

If she didn't want to think about him, then she probably didn't even want to remember him.

It was better this way.

"I'm gonna. Go have Aerith look at my shoulder." Riku said. He turned then, before he could see Axel's response, before he could convince himself that asking any more questions was a good idea. The sooner he was out of this situation—the sooner Axel was gone—the better.