YES, I'm not supposed to be on right now. Do I care? No.

Well, I'm sneaking on to give this chappie to you, so... be happy. x.x (Hey, that rhymes! XD -easily amused-)

Disclaimer- Own Kingdom Hearts, I do not - though I am the proud new owner of a crown necklace like Sora's. Oh yeah, and my OCs, too.

Roxas opened the door, only to find himself on yet another stained-glass platform. He sighed and wondered if this winding path would ever end.

He looked around for a moment, then felt his body prickle. Like someone… or something… was watching him. Like the feeling he'd gotten this morning, only twice as powerful.

He turned to see the man in the black hood for a brief moment, but his anger at seeing the other again was instantly eclipsed by an unpleasant mixture of shock and horror. Roxas backed up, frantically searching for an exit other than the one that led below, as what looked like blue antennae wiggled up from the depths. Following these strange appendages was the white monster that went with it… and judging by the roaring gale that accompanied its arrival, the thing wasn't happy at all.

Its entire body was off-white, but the symbol on the top of its head, like the smaller white enemies, was a pure snowy color. It had what looked like a blue scarf around its neck, where the "blue antennae" were coming up from like a mimicking darker cloud. However, its hands somewhat resembled crab claws, and Roxas gulped at the thought of being strangled by one of those.

Total fear taking over for a moment, he whirled around and started for the edge, only to catch himself and barely keep his balance in time. Slowly he turned, heart pounding like a relentless demon against the inside of his ribs. Despite his panic-fogged mind, one word was echoing insistently within:

Fight.

Well, Roxas told himself, it was either that or leap off the edge. The former sounded much more appealing, but maybe it was just him.

Putting a hand out, he summoned the Keyblade to him. As though that were some sort of signal, the monster threw its head back, and Roxas suddenly felt something surround him. Looking down, he gasped at the sight of his middle body almost completely covered in what looked like jagged purple-and-white, thread-thin lightning bolts.

He closed his eyes against the flash of light that permeated his vision, and then the next thing he knew he was bound by his wrists and ankles in midair by more of the purple-and-white stuff. The monster glided up from below and leaned forward, as if savoring its foe's fear; then it was pulling its "hand" back, getting ready to strike him. Roxas managed to get the hand that held the Keyblade, as well as the same ankle, free and knock it back with the weapon. However, the enemy wasn't fazed; it merely whooshed back in a series of quick, fluid motions, seizing him with its "hands" and throwing him high up into the air. Before it could strike back, however, Roxas had slashed it, hard, with the Keyblade on the way down, and the monster tumbled over the side of the platform.

The blond felt a wave of confusion wash over him; was it over that easily? He ran over to the edge and peered down, only to gasp in terror as he felt his center of gravity shift. He just barely managed to stick the Keyblade in the edge of the cliff before he fell down into the darkness.

Well, almost darkness.

Roxas chanced a look down and saw the monster hanging upside down on the platform, holding what looked like a sphere of purple-and-white light in its claws. It pushed down hard with its feet, shaking the platform and knocking Roxas off with it. With a cry, he fell, but as he twisted in midair something took over him, and he threw the Keyblade into the sphere. "Gotcha!" he yelled as the sphere dissolved, but his triumph was replaced when he slammed down on his back onto the platform. Pain shot up through him but he didn't have time to dwell on it, as the monster landed hard as well, leaving its head vulnerable to him. Quickly he got to his feet and placed a foot on the ground to help him get the Keyblade, which had stuck into the platform when Roxas had landed, out.

He landed a few good blows to the monster's head before it got up as well. Its head glowed for a brief moment before it fired more of the light-like stuff at him. Roxas rolled and dodged in midair and slashed at its head. As gravity pulled him back down again the monster suddenly seemed to push itself to the ground and lashed out at him with a claw. He was knocked backward but quickly steadied himself in time.

It wiggled back up so that its head was high above him again, only to push itself down again, this time standing on its head. More of the light-like substance, black and white, flared out towards him, but this time there was a lot more.

Man…Roxas thought as he whipped through the half-invisible onslaught, getting in a few slashes here and there and dodging more of the smaller white enemies in a strange battle dance. Why won't this thing give already?

During his mental rant the monster had decided to send more of the light stuff at him, making pain blossom in his middle. Gotta focus, Roxas, the boy reminded himself as he quickly tossed up a Potion to heal himself and continued his attack.

At last, after another binding of light and nearly falling off the cliff again, with a final, exhausted swipe to the monster's head, the battle was over. The creature threw its head back, its "scarf" flapping furiously in the wind. Roxas backed up again, feeling the Keyblade disappear in his hand as he did so, and whimpered when he saw the huge monster fall down… down… down, practically on top of him. He instinctively covered himself with his arms again, but behind his arms he saw a swirl of darkness surround both him and the fallen enemy.

His relief turned to fear as he felt the tendrils of darkness grasp his wrists and pull him forward, not unlike in his first dream with Sora and Riku. Roxas struggled furiously, reaching out his hand in a last desperate attempt to be freed. To his complete and utter shock, a separate hand took hold of his wrist, and the flash of white light that accompanied it nearly blinded him.

Roxas took down his arm from in front of his face when the light cleared to look around. He seemed to be in a dark bluish room, almost completely devoid of life but for the blond girl from earlier that sat in front of him.

He opened his mouth, not quite knowing what to say. The questions all tumbled around in his head; what's going on tripped over why is this happening to me and stumbled on top of what are the dreams about, anyway until Roxas felt that it was all nothing more than a desperate word scramble in his mind.

However, the girl put a finger to her mouth for silence, and spoke: slowly, as though afraid he wouldn't understand. Or… wouldn't want to understand. "My name is Namine," she said.

Roxas just stared, feeling like an idiot. Mentally he chided himself and started to speak again, but again, she interrupted.

"Roxas…" she began. "Do you remember your true name?"

Well, of course I do, he wanted to say. It's Roxas. But somehow the words felt like they wouldn't fit in a serious situation like this: like they would anger Namine, somehow.

A dark-clad hand yanked Namine to her feet, not unlike the way Roxas had been yanked up in the station plaza. "Say no more, Namine," the hooded person said in a deep voice.

"But if no one tells him, Roxas will…"

"It's best he doesn't know the truth. Char has already gotten too close to telling him before. We shouldn't push it again."

"Hey!" Roxas interrupted, feeling annoyed that he was being left out of this. He pointed accusingly at the black-coated man. "You're that pickpocket!"

The man ignored him, instead extending a hand to the side. Roxas heard something being conjured behind him and turned to see a portal of darkness swirling in shadowy circles. The black-coated man reached forward before Roxas could do anything and pushed him unceremoniously into the portal.

"Seifer, strike a pose, y'know?" Roxas awoke to the sound of Rai's voice.

"How's this?"

"That's perfect, y'know?"

Roxas pushed himself upward on his hands and knees and looked around. The first thing he saw was Seifer's white coat, and then his friends in front of him, taking pictures with Fuu's camera.

"How about one more, y'know?" Rai asked eagerly.

Roxas stood up and walked up to them. "What's that for?"

"Keepsake," Fuu replied simply.

"Those freaks in the white jumpsuits are gone, y'know?"

"Cakewalk."

"What were those things?" Roxas asked, hoping for some answers.

"Outsiders, that's what," Seifer replied. The spiky-haired one mentally sighed; he never really got a straight answer from any of Seifer's gang, anyway.

"And if they don't wise up to the rules around here," the other continued, cracking his knuckles, "I might have to take a few 'disciplinary measures'."

Roxas heard footsteps and turned to see his friends walking into the Sandlot. He felt a thrill of embarrassment and horror as Hayner shook his head reprovingly and let out a "hmph" before he ran away. Pence and Olette exchanged an uncomfortable glance and gave Roxas an apologetic shrug before following. "Hey, wait up!" Roxas called, racing after them with a guilty feeling beginning to form in the pit of his stomach. First he runs away to find that girl Namine; then they come looking for him, only to find him seemingly goofing off with Seifer and his posse… What must they think of me now? Roxas wondered.

"Hey!" Seifer yelled after the retreating blond. "No chickening out of the tournament tomorrow!"

"We'll be waiting, y'know?"

Roxas dismissed their voices as fly-like buzzes in the back of his mind; he was too busy thinking of how he was going to cover this to Hayner and the others.

Roxas stepped into The Usual Spot to find his friends – what else? – eating sea-salt ice cream. Pence and Olette turned to look at him, but Hayner continued to look stubbornly away, and Roxas felt a prickle of frustration toward his friend.

"So…" Pence began, carefully, as though afraid of rousing Roxas' temper. "You hung out with Seifer's gang today?"

"No, it wasn't like that. It…" Roxas saw the disbelieving looks on their faces and quickly decided to change the subject. Unfortunately, it wasn't so tactful as he thought it would come out. "Oh, um, how was the beach? Wasn't that today?"

"We didn't go," Olette spoke this time, finding her shoelaces very interesting all of a sudden. "It wouldn't be the same without you, right?"

"You guys didn't have to do that…" Roxas rubbed the back of his neck in embarrassment. He turned to Hayner. "Hey, um, we could go tomorrow! We could get some pretzels, and…"

For the first time, his friend looked up, and fixed him with such a smoldering gaze Roxas flinched. "I promised I'd be somewhere," Hayner answered coldly.

"Oh," was all the spiky-haired boy could manage. Suddenly he remembered what his friend meant: the Struggle tournament.

"You and I have to make the finals! That way, no matter who wins, the four of us split the prize!"

"Okay, you're on."

"You two are gonna clean up."

"Go get 'em."

Roxas and Hayner shared an awkward silence; then Hayner stood up. "I'm outta here," he grumbled, starting in the direction of his house.

'Restoration at 48 percent.'

"So was that Namine made of data?" Char asked.

DiZ sounded somewhat bewildered when he spoke. "No. She managed to hijack the data herself." With an irritated sigh, he slammed one fist on the keyboard, causing a myriad of random characters to appear onscreen. "Look what she's done now… She's completely out of my control!"

"Calm down," the black-hooded man said, and Char nodded in agreement, making him turn to her in surprise. "What are you agreeing for? You get angry easily yourself!" The redhead snorted and rolled her eyes, but did not argue.

"It doesn't matter," DiZ muttered. "As long as Namine accomplishes her goal, we needn't worry about what befalls Roxas."

"Yeah, I wouldn't think he needs to know his 'true name' anyway," Char added, doing air quotes on the words true name. "Knowing what he is and all."

The dark-coated man looked away, and Char raised one eyebrow. "Speaking of which…" She grinned, her slight fangs making it look more like a smirk, and the anonymous person sighed.

"What might be your true name, Dark Emo Boy? Go on, refresh my memory."

The other looked almost pleadingly to DiZ, but the red-wrapped man was looking expectantly at him. "Yes. Do tell us."

The 'dark emo boy' sighed, and took off his hood to reveal dark skin, glittering amber eyes, and silvery-gray hair that fell well past where the hood of the coat began. "It's Ansem," he growled.

DiZ and Char exchanged glances, as though sharing their own private joke. The girl laughed, while the other simply looked what could only be described as cynically amused. "Nice to meet you, Ansem."

Ansem narrowed his amber eyes. "And just because I'm fighting the darkness all the time, doesn't mean you need to act like that, Char."

Char rolled her eyes. "Whatever, man. Do what you want." Her mood changed to a kind of fascinated brooding as she leaned over DiZ's shoulder to watch the computer screen, locks of red hair falling over her own shoulder as she did so. "Nearly halfway there," she murmured.

DiZ nodded simply, acknowledging her statement. "If the Organization doesn't manage to intercept us, this will all end in time."

Ansem gave a single nod in reply, but otherwise said nothing. The trio stood in silence for a moment before Char straightened. "Well, I'm gonna go get some pretzels," she announced.

"You do that," Ansem muttered dryly.

Char gave him a scowl. "None for you, then." With that, she swept out of the room, her dark coat making a swishing sound against the air.

Sighing, Ansem turned his own gaze onto the screen. "Sora…" he murmured.

Sora seems to glide through what looks like a tunnel of light. He reaches out for the cinnamon-haired girl, but the image of her disappears before he can get to her.

"It's up to me," Riku announces grimly, as Sora struggles briefly just before the Keyblade appears in the silver-haired one's hand. "Only the Keyblade master can open the secret door and change the world."

Riku, clad this time in a strange purple-red-and-white outfit, shoots a dark jet of fire toward Sora. Sora instinctively covers himself with his hands, but remains unscathed thanks to Goofy, who had blocked it with his shield just in time. "But I'm not gonna betray Sora, either," the dog says, almost defiantly.
"All for one and one for all," Donald adds.
Riku stares down in shock as the Keyblade vanishes from his hand and reappears in Sora's.
"My friends are my power!" the brunette says.

Sora shakes the cinnamon-haired girl frantically, but she doesn't wake.

A brown-furred, fierce looking beast speaks. "So, your heart won this battle," he murmurs, and Sora nods in agreement.

A black-coated figure, similar to the one that had been showing up to Roxas, steps through Sora, and the brunette falls to the ground. He turns and stares in confusion at the retreating man.
However, the other whirls around and, extending his fingers, fires a shadowy beam at Sora. The Keybearer blocks it with his weapon in response, and manages to send the darkness flying into the wall.
The cloaked man and the younger boy stare each other down as the darkness seems to drip from the ceiling in a strange but oddly beautiful drizzle.

Riku, wearing his purple clothes, is standing in front of a portal of some sort, holding a weapon that faintly resembles a bat's wing. "It is I, Ansem!" he cries, lifting the blade. "Lead me into everlasting darkness!"

Sora is on his hands and knees as his former friend brings the sword down. "Sora!" a voice suddenly cries, and the brunette abruptly leaps up to block Riku's strike.
"Forget it," Sora says, in what is as reminiscent of a snarl as he has ever gotten in these dreams. "There's no way you're taking Kairi's heart!"

Donald and Goofy reach out, looking horrified. Sora gives them a sad grin, and plunges the blade into his chest. The boy's heart coalesces in front of them and floats upward in a pink trail, to go into Kairi's body. The girl opens her eyes.

Kairi tries to catch her falling friend, but he vanishes in a flash of golden light before she can touch him.

Sora and Kairi, in a gentle embrace. "Kairi…" the brunette murmurs.

"We may never meet again," an older brown-haired man says, "but we'll never forget each other."
"No matter where we are," his female companion, clad in a pink dress, adds, "our hearts will bring us together again."

"Take this," Kairi says, taking Sora's hand and slipping something into it. Sora looks at it and sees a star-like object on the end of a chain.
"It's my lucky charm," the girl continues, and places her fists on her hips to make her point. "Be sure to bring it back to me!"
Sora cradles it in his hand. "Don't worry. I will."
"Promise!"

Sora points his Keyblade at a pinkish mass of cloudy light. "Don't forget," Kairi's voice murmurs as the infamous beam of light shoots out of the weapon. "Wherever you are, I'm always with you."

Roxas' eyes blink open as he hears a knock on the door. Sighing, he sits up in bed, shaking his bangs out of his eyes. "Come on in, it's open."
After a moment, the door creaks open, to reveal a messy-haired, eye-rubbing, pajama-clad Anxclof. Roxas can't hold back a snigger. "Nice bed-head."
"Oh, shut it," the brunette growls, straightening her dark shirt. "Move yourself over so I have room."
Roxas blinks, and his cheeks redden slightly. "Uh… what…?"
"You heard me."
"Um, okay… Would you mind telling me what brought this on…?"
"Nothing!" Anxclof shouts back, a little too hastily, the blond notes.
"Oh, come on. You can tell me." Roxas does scoot over a bit as he speaks, just so Anxclof won't summon her Keyblade and slash at him until he gives in.
The brunette snorts. "Uh, no, I can't. You'll laugh at me."
"Why would I?"
Anxclof hesitates, and after a moment, during which it looks like she's about to leave, she lets out the breath she was holding. "Okay. Just don't tell anyone."
Roxas smiles. "Your secret's safe with me."
Without further ado, his fellow Nobody flops down next to him, and promptly stretches out, her hands in a nonchalant position behind her head. "Okay," she mutters, taking a deep breath. She turns her head so their eyes have met, dark green to dark blue. "I had this freaky dream, okay?"
Roxas blinks again. "A dream? That doesn't sound like you. Nobodies don't dream."
"I know that, okay?" Anxclof snaps back, but then sighs, as though the force of her anger has taken her strength. "I just… It was really weird, because I don't remember anything like this having anything whatsoever to do with me. In the dream, I'm someone else – a girl who's a lot like me. She's got a Keyblade too, I think. And…"
"And?" Roxas prompts.
"And… it was…" Anxclof bites her lip. "It was really weird. I was at the top of this tower – kinda like the ones here, but this one had a reflective bottom, so you could see Kingdom Hearts in it. I was yelling at this long-haired blond guy, and –" She sighs. "Now you're going to think this is really weird."
"I've probably seen weirder."
"Xemnas was there, too."
Roxas' eyes widen. "Seriously?"
"Yeah. If I remember right, he was right next to the blond guy, smirking and taunting me and giving the blond orders. So, in the end, I get really pissed off, because these guys seem to have killed my parents."
"Parents?" Roxas asks, tilting his head to the side. "Nobodies don't have parents, either. They just kinda… get…"
"Spawned, yeah," Anxclof mutters. " So apparently, my parents aren't good enough for the Organization, and so Xemnas killed them. I get pissed because of that, and I summon my Keyblade to finish off both the blond and the Superior."
Her voice trails off.
"And?" asks Roxas.
"And that's all I remember. When I woke up, I remembered it, and I got so freaked out I had this weird urge to get out of that room. And I knew Axel wasn't going to be mature about it, so…"
"You chose my room," Roxas concludes.
Anxclof looks a little embarrassed. "Pretty much, yeah."
The blond sighs. Almost against his own will he finds his hand moving forward to her shoulder. "Well, first of all, you made the right choice." He makes a face. "It's not like Axel's the most pure, mature person in the world either…"
"Another excellent point."
There's a few moments of long, awkward silence, during which both Anxclof and Roxas' cheeks tinge a dark red.
"I take it that promise's still intact?" Roxas asks teasingly, snaking his arm around her shoulders to pull her slightly closer. The breath catches in his throat when she doesn't pull away.
"Oh, what, the whole 'leave the Organization together' thing?" Anxclof murmurs. "Meh. Don't worry about it."
They manage to fall asleep like that, even though both of them by now are blushing redder than tomatoes.
Strange, because they're not supposed to have hearts…

Roxas came awake with a start, his eyes bursting open. He sat up and looked around his room. "Right… promise…" he muttered under his breath, and swung his arm as if swinging an imaginary Keyblade.

Kairi…

And Anxclof, too. He blushes hard at the memory.

So… how did things change from back then, anyway?

Whee for the Anxy/Roku fluff. It makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside when they have a "moment" - especially when you see how things get later on.

Review, everyone!