Unfortunately, I will be gone for the next two weeks in Minnesota (and I live in Texas). Without acess to my story, or a computer, sadly. So here's a chapter to tide you over while I'm gone.

Axel: "DarthKingdom doesn't own Kingdom Hearts, Disney, Square Enix, or anything else. If he did, I might not have died in the last game."

--

Chapter 18: Axel's Tale

"You got a head start!" Sora said, faking frustration. Kairi just laughed as she returned to her normal form. Sora followed suit, and his red clothing turned black again.

"Not bad, not bad." Axel said admiringly. Namine's shadow emerged from Kairi. "Namine! Good to see you."

He through a tiny smirk at Roxas. "You really know how to pick 'em man."

Roxas's transparent cheeks darkened with a blush. Namine giggled and pecked his cheek.

"And down to bussiness. I suppose you're here to 'collect' me?" Axel said, looking over them all.

"Yeah." Roxas said. "But would you mind telling us how it is you're still alive?"

Axel nodded. "Come inside, we'll talk some more." He led the group back into the mansion's foryer, and the door opened. The King and the rest of the group walked in and cast worried looks at Sora and the others. "Are you fellas alright?" Mickey asked.

"We're fine." Sora said. "It takes more than an uber-powerful Nobody to take us down."

"I'd say I came pretty close." Roxas said off-handedly. When Sora gave him an annoyed look, he laughed.

"Oh Roxas, Namine!" Mickey said, "How are you?"

"We're fine." They said, entwining their hands.

Axel said to the whole group, "Follow me downstairs, I'll explain everything I know."

As they walked back to the basement, Hayner turned to Roxas and asked hesitantly, "Have we met?" Roxas's face split into a wide grin, and Sora chuckled.

"There's an interesting story behind that." Roxas said to Hayner, Pence and Olette. "I knew you from the other Twilight Town. Hayner, Pance and Olette."

Their eyes grew wide, and Roxas laughed. Namine nudged him in the ribs in annoyance. "I was placed in Twilight Town ( which is a big computer program) to help Sora. He had lost his memories and Namine here had him go to sleep so she could put them back together. Since I'm his Nobody, I may have been able to help the process along. The only catch was that all of my memories were erased until the job was nearly done."

"Wow." Pence said as they walked down the dark hallway to the computer room. "So Namine was doing this alone?"

"Actually," She said. "Riku over there had a hand in it, and the original Ansem did a lot of work."

"They all placed me in the virtual Twilight Town to live out my life as a normal teenager until I could rejoin with Sora." Roxas continued, "While I was there, you guys were my best friends."

"Really?" Olette asked. Then a thought hit her. "Maybe that's why we felt like we needed to see Sora off when he left town!"

"Yep." Roxas said. He remembered distantly that moment. A tear had fallen from Sora's eye. "It wasn't easy to leave the place I had thought of as home for so long." He could never quite forgive Ansem for tampering with his life like he did. But if he hadn't, he might never have met Namine, and Sora would've woken up much later than he did.

"Well then," Hayner said, extending his hand, "It's uh, good to have you back, Roxas!"

Roxas smiled and passed his hand through Hayner's.

The group of twelve arrived at the computer room. Axel strode over to the seat by the computer,and swung it around to face them. He sat down. "Pull up a patch of floor rest a while!"

When everyone had seated, Axel continued. "Have you heard of the Brotherhood of the Dark?"

"Yep. We've alerted as many people as we can on other worlds." The King said, "And we know that they're after Kingdom Hearts."

"And that they've got control over most of the Heartless and Nobodies out there." Riku added.

"Well then that saves me a lot of trouble." Axel said. "What don't you know?"

"How you're alive right now." Roxas said.

Axel settled back in his chair. "I'm not sure of all the details, so bear with me. When I 'died' my soul stayed on this plane of existance. Probably because I didn't die in the conventional way. What it did then, I don't know, but I think it found what was left of my body somewhere in the Darkness."

"Later, when the Organization's Kingdom Hearts exploded, it turned out that my heart was in it. I think it sought out my soul, which was the remains of my body. Together, they rebuilt it."

"I woke up very confused at the base of the Castle That Never Was, and there were Heartless swarming the place." Axel went on. "I fought a bunch of them off, but they seemed more interested in the castle than me."

"By the time they left me alone, I was exhausted. Unfortunately, that made me a perfect target for the Brotherhood. One of their guys overpowered me pretty easily and took me through a portal of darkness. When I came to, I was in a dungeon and one of them started interrogating me. Roughly." He finished, running a finger along the scar on his forehead.

"Why?" Sora asked. "What did they think you knew?"

"I'm not too sure." He said, shrugging. "They asked me a few things about you guys though. Who you were closest to, your combat styles, stuff like that." He gave a significant look to Sora, Kairi, and Riku. "They want to find out everything they can about you, to decide the best way to beat you. They fear the Keyblades, and rightly so."

"Did you tell them anything?" Kairi asked.

"Now have I ever given you a reason not to trust me?"

"Yes."

"Oh... right." He said. "Kindnapping you, and attacking Roxas in a fit of rage, yeah. Well I didn't tell them anything! They even offered me a position in the Brotherhood, but I didn't break!"

"Well, thank you for that." Sora said.

"Anything else?" Mickey asked.

"They asked me about something called the 'Cornerstone of Light'." He answered. "I'm assuming that you know more about it than I did?"

"The Cornerstone is an ancient relic of pure light." The King explained. "Disney Castle was built around it, and it rests inside. It's kept dark creatures away for years. I don't know what they'd want with it..."

"Maybe they want to destroy it?" Goofy suggested.

"Possibly."

"Axel? How did you escape?" Roxas asked.

--

"I will not ask you again." The man said. He wore a black vest marked with two strips of blood red running down the side. Looking at him, he thought he looked a little like Vexen.

Axel was strapped to a wall by two chains made of dark energy. On his forehead was a strange mark in green ink. It glowed eerily in the darkness of the room. The mark and the pure darkness surrounding him succesfully blocked Axel's power. Perfect conditions for an interrogation.

"Why do I doubt that?" Axel responded, smirking at his interrogator just to agrivate him. He earned himself a firm punch in the jaw.

"You're making this more diffucult than it has to be Axel." He said. "If you simply tell me what you know of the Keybearers, you can join us! Ultimate power! Stand by the almighty Serndask!"

"I won't tell you anything! Got it memorized?"

"So you have said." The man muttered. He gave him another punch, this time in the stomach. "Perhaps it is time I take more serious measures..."

In the man's hand appeared a long, narrow dagger. In the blink of an eye, he had plundged it into Axel's side, eliciting a grunt of excruciating pain. He withdrew it very slowly, relishing the pain he was causing.

"Hurts doesn't it?" He asked with a wicked smile. "Does Sora have someone he cares for, dearly? A lover, perhaps?"

"I'm not telling." Axel said, trying to keep a lid on his pain.

The dagger flashed. And a large gash appeared on Axel's opposite shoulder. He struggled to keep a scream from passing his lips.

"Has Riku fully mastered his darkness?" The man asked. "I can make the pain stop, you know. All you have to do is answer me."

Axel responded by spitting in the man's face. He hit him right between his dull green eyes.

He didn't take that well at all. The dagger flashed again, and a narrow gash appeared on Axel's forehead. As a narrow trickle of blood dripped down his face, Axel did something totally unexpected.

He started laughing.

"What is so funny, you impudent-" He soon realized the horrible mistake he had made.

The mark on his forehead was no longer perfect. In his anger, he had altered it's shape slightly.

"Thanks, man!" Axel exclaimed. From his open palms burst waves of fire. The man had no time to defend himself before the flames hit him. He fell to the ground trying to put himself out. With his concentration broken, the shadowy chains vanished, freeing Axel's wrists.

He hosed his torturer with fire for a little longer, then sprinted out the only door in the room. His chakrams appeared in his hands when Nobodies appeared in the hallway, and despite his injuries, he defeated them all.

He ran down the empty hallways, looking desperately for the means to leave his prison. A Gummi ship, a gateway, something, anything.

He threw open doors whenever he found them, and eventually came to what looked like a hanger. He ran inside, and took out a few Heartless. He found a purple Gummi ship, and walked towards it. The cockpit hissed open at his approach, and he jumped inside.

He fastened himself in, turned on the engines, and set a course for the first world he could think of: Twilight Town.

As the ship was lifting off, however, his torturer appeared in the doorway flanked by Sniper Nobodies. They opened fire on the ship, doing only cosmetic damage. But the torturer threw something much different.

A small tracking device.

It latched onto the hull of the departing Gummi. He watched as Axel's commendeered ship blasted into the night sky, and vanished from sight almost immediately.

--

"My ship crashed in the oceans not far from here." Axel finished. "I tended to some of my wounds, and took a walk around town. When I got to Sunset Hill, I was attacked by the Heartless, and I've been fighting ever since."

Everyone was silent for a moment as they let the story of his brief adventure sink in. The King broke it after almost a minute.

"You were very brave, Axel."

He smiled lightly and shrugged. He apperantly agrivated an injury while doing so, because he flinched. "I got a bit of information from my captor while he was monologing to me." He rolled his eyes. "Apperantly, they plan on attacking the World That Never Was."

"Then we know where to go next. How would you like to join us?" Mickey asked.

Axel smiled. "Why not? I've got a couple thousand evil creatures coming after me anyway. Why not stay among friends?"

"Welcome aboard, Hot-Head!" Roxas cheered. He stood up and acted as if giving his friend a high-five. His hand passed right through him, but Axel got the gist of it all the same.

"Mission accomplished, guys." Sora said, wrapping his arm around Kairi, and putting a hand on Riku's shoulder. "I think we're doing well, don't you?"

All they could do was smile.

--

SamuraiJedi: Thank you. I'm glad you enjoyed the fight!

Vigga: I just couldn't stand keeping them apart.

Elevategirl: Well, thank you! Chapters are getting longer as I write them. I'm glad you like Ruxik.

ConfederateofZ: Thank you very much! And I guess I can help you, if I can figure this thing out a bit better. I look forward to working with you.

Disneytiger: Hmmmm...(thinking)

Heaven-monument: Yeah, I may have overdid him a wee bit. What I was trying to get across is that he loves tormenting Riku. He's trying to get him as angry as possible, and he may become a Heartless, like what Xaldin tried to do with Beast.

Shinku Ryuuga: My idiot brother strikes again. Sorry, from now on I'm going to check these more thoroughly. But thanks about Ruxik.

Hay Lin La: Verity has a point. But Roxas wasn't supposed to be a great surprise anyway. And don't worry, I won't accuse you of stealing my ideas.

See you in two weeks!