A/N: Yeah….so, because of time, the next chapter will be the final chapter for days in this story T-T. Although this chapter isn't all that tear jerkish, it might be because it's one of the final ones for this plot of the story. Even though I'm writing this author note before I actually write it, I'm gonna say that I'm gonna cry while writing the final chapter of days. Also note that this chapter is extremely long, so be prepared to read it, and possibly cry. Everyone, prepare your tissues please! Yeah…well, T-T…Enjoy.

"Why do we always get stuck with the icky jobs?"

"Why did the Keyblade choose me? …I have to know."

"Please, don't hold back, Axel. Promise."

"You'll be…better off now…Roxas."

"You both, think you can do whatever you want!"

"YOU CAN'T TURN ON THE ORGANIZATION!"

"You can't let Xemnas have Kingdom Hearts. You can't."

"No one would miss me."

"Xion, NO!"

Hope shot up, a loud gasp of shock coming from her. She put a hand to her heart, feeling it beating quickly. Gradually, it began to slow down as she calmed, putting a hand to her head and rubbing her temples. She took a glance at her clock and sighed when she saw it was only 3 in the morning. Slowly, she swung her legs over the side of the bed, her feet touching the cold marble floor. She got up and exited the room, moving over to Axel's room, opening his door and quietly shutting it, making her way over to his bed. Silently, she pulled the sheet up a bit and slid in next to him, sighing in content as she drifted back into sleep, praying that there wouldn't be anymore nightmares during the night.

Not during her sleep, but during the day….

Day 321~ Axel's POV~

As I walked down the ramp to go to the lift way, I stopped as I heard my name called. "Axel!" I glanced over my shoulder to see Xion running down the ramp, coming to a stop as she neared me.

"You need something?"

She looked at me with a face that one would consider a sad one, if we could feel. "What? No…I just…" She frowned for a moment before a determined look appeared. "Something's wrong with Roxas. I thought you might know what's up. He says the Keyblade wears him out now when he goes to use it. And suddenly I find myself fighting the same way he does…"

I frowned, scratching my head thoughtfully before turning all the way around to stare down at her. "Well, you know him better than me."

"Why…why would you say that?"

"Ask yourself what's doing it to him."

She stared down at the floor, shaking her head. "I'm not sure."

For some reason, her answer made me fume. "Oh, you're not sure? What, did they forget to build you with common sense?"

Her head shot up, her blue eyes big and wide with shock. "…!"

"Oh, come on, don't look shocked. You already knew you're a replica. A puppet whose original purpose was to duplicate Roxas's powers. If he's getting weaker and you're getting stronger….Well, that just means you're borrowing a little more than you oughta be."

She looked away and back at the floor, "….What should I do, then?"

"I can't make that decision for you. You're no puppet in my book. You're my best friend. Mine, Hope's, and Roxas's. Got it memorized?"

She nodded her head a bit. "Yeah….can I ask you one other thing?"

"What's that?"

"I saw a boy today who looks just like Roxas. Is he who I think he is?"

I shrugged my shoulders. "That's another decision you have to make on your own, too."

Meanwhile, in the round room~

"Sora is having a powerful effect on her."

Xemnas nodded in agreement with Xigbar, "Yes, it was not supposed to gain a mind of its own-nor become the person we see. But in the end, it only proves the puppet is the more worthy vessel," Xemnas explained, his eyes that had been closed opening up and a cruel smile appearing on his face. "At last, the time has come. Saix, are the devices ready?"

"All three will be operable in a matter of days."

"Good."

"What do you want to do with Roxas?" Saix asked.

"Both of them have connections to Sora, but we only need one of them under our thumb. Let Xion take from Roxas the rest of what he has to give…Or, let him destroy her first and get it all back. It makes no difference to me. Either way, Sora's power will be ours."

"Daddy, up! Up!"

Jonathan looked down at his daughter, laughing as she jumped up and down, reaching her arms up to him as a sign that she wanted to be lifted up. "Up? Ok, up you go!" He exclaimed, lifting her up highly, earning countless giggles from her.

"Ha-ha, WHEE!"

"Delilah always tells me that you spoil that child rotten every time she comes to visit for tea." Ansem said, chuckling slightly.

"Can you really blame me? I've been away for almost 8 months now." Jonathan said, setting Hope up on his shoulders.

"Yes, that's right. When will you be leaving again?" Ansem asked, a worried look on his face.

"In four days. Sephiroth and I are already prepared. This is the final battle, and hopefully, the war will be over after that and Midgar and Wutai will be at peace. (A/N: In this story, Midgar and Wutai are two different worlds, because I felt the need to make them like that!) This war between them has been going on for far too long now."

Ansem nodded. "I know that it is unlikely, but what if you don't come back this time? What will happen to Delilah and Hope."

Jonathan frowned, glancing over at Hope, who had gotten off of his shoulders and moved over to play in a patch of flowers. He thought of Delilah, his wife, the woman he loved with every inch of his being. Finally, he spoke. "I have something to ask of you, Wise Ansem. If anything is to ever happen to me, may it be being trapped on another world and unable to come home, or death to prevent me from ever returning…I want you to make sure that Delilah and Hope will be ok. Take care of them for me. Sephiroth knows about how my sword will disappear if anything is to happen to its wielder, awaiting for the next of blood to come of age before it returns. He has already agreed to train Hope if something were to ever happen to me. Do you promise me, Ansem?"

Ansem the wise gave a smile to his friend. "My friend, you have my word. I will make sure that your family is taken care of."

"Thank you, my friend….thank you."

1 month later-

Day 352~ Sunset~

"There's a Heartless that's surfaced in Halloween Town. I was hoping you might exterminate it for us."

Roxas nodded his head quickly as soon as Saix was done giving him a bit of intel. "S…sure…Leave it to me!"

Axel and Hope walking up to the two caught Roxas's attention. "Hey, whoa whoa whoa….Roxas, you really wanna do that?" Axel asked.

"Why wouldn't I?" Roxas asked, confused by the pyro's behavior.

Axel scratched the back of his head. "It's just, lately you-"

"Shouldn't you and Hope already be out on your mission, Axel?" Saix asked, earning a glare from Hope.

Roxas, oblivious to everything, simply laughed. "Yeah, I need to get ready, too. Let's catch up later!"

"But…" Axel began, only to have Hope interrupt him

"But, Roxas-" Hope began, only to stop when she saw the blonde already walking through a portal, watching it close as soon as he was through it.

"Can't you two just let things run their course?" Saix asked, exasperatedly.

"….."

"Let's go, Axel." Hope said quietly, grabbing the pyro's hand and allowing him to open a portal, both walking through it and out into Agrabah, commencing their mission of collecting hearts. About 30 minutes into the mission, Axel got a bad feeling about something.

"Hope, you talked to Xion this morning, right?"

Hope nodded her head. "Yeah, why?"

"Did she tell you where her mission was?"

"Yeah, in Halloween Town. She went to go take care of a giant heart-WAH! Axel, what are you doing?" Hope exclaimed as Axel dragged her through a portal.

"Hope, there's something I need to tell you. Something I probably should've mentioned before: Xion is replica based off of Roxas. Roxas is Sora's Nobody. Don't ask me how, because I don't know. Xemnas planned to use Sora and Roxas to help finish Kingdom Hearts faster. Xion was created as a fail-safe in case Roxas and Sora proved to be useless. Somehow, Xion absorbed some of Sora's memories."

"And those memories are making her stronger." Hope stated, realization hitting her as they ran through the town, heading towards the graveyard. "Saix tricked them into fighting each other!"

"Exactly, which is why we have to stop them before they destroy each other without realizing it." Axel stated, pushing the gates open and running in, Hope following after him. They both stopped as they saw Xion standing on one side of the graveyard, while Roxas stood on the side in front of him. Immediately, Xion and Roxas ran at each other, Keyblades ready to strike at each other.

Hope and Axel summoned their weapons and ran forward quickly, Hope jumping in front of Xion, while Axel took care of Roxas. "NO!" Hope screamed, blocking Xion's Keyblade, while Axel blocked Roxas's with both of his Chakrams.

"STOP, both of you!" Axel exclaimed, glancing at both Keyblade wielders.

Roxas looked at Xion in shock. "Xion!

Xion gave him the same look, "Roxas? Wh…what are you doing here? The Heartless I was fighting-it was you?"

"This mission-" Axel began, letting Hope finish.

"-was a setup."

Roxas looked at the two oldest, "What?"

"It was rigged so you two could battle each other." Axel explained, a frown on his face as he spoke.

"Me and Xion? But…"

Xion looked down at the ground sadly. "They would do that?"

"Let's get out of here and get some ice-cream. We can talk about this over that." Hope suggested, earning nods from the other three.

0o0o0o0o

"Brain freeze, ha-ha." Xion laughed as they all ate ice cream, watching the sunset up on the clock tower in Twilight Town.

Roxas laughed with her. "Been awhile since we all hung out like this, huh?"

"You got that right!" Hope stated, taking the ice cream she was sharing with Axel, and taking a bite from it.

Axel laughed slightly at the statement. "Well, we have had our share of drama. Hey, I just remembered-did you guys know you should be checking your ice cream sticks?"

"Huh? Really? For what?" Xion asked.

"Once you finish your ice cream bar, check the stick. It might say WINNER." Axel explained, taking the ice cream bar back from Hope and taking a bite from it.

"Hey, wait a second…Oh yeah!" Roxas exclaimed, causing Hope to burst into giggles.

" 'Oh yeah' what?" Axel asked.

Roxas turned to look at him, giving him a smile. "Uhh…n-nothing. So what do you win?"

Axel laughed at the blonde. "Beats me."

"I think you win a free ice cream…" Hope mumbled, taking the ice cream bar back from Axel and taking a bite.

Roxas laughed at the two adults. "You two don't know?"

"It's gotta be something good, if you're a WINNER!" Axel exclaimed, swiping the ice cream bar back from Hope and finishing it up, causing Hope to frown.

"Right." Roxas said in agreement.

Xion laughed, "Heh-heh-heh…" She looked over to the sun, her laughter dying out. "Wow…The sun sure is beautiful. I know we've seen a lot of sunsets, but today's puts the rest to shame. If only things stayed like this."

"….."

Roxas's theme begins to play~

"What if we all ran off?" Roxas suggested, looking down at his lap.

Xion, Axel, and Hope all looked at him with wide eyes, as if he were insane. "What?" Xion asked.

"The four of us. Then we could always be together." Roxas stated with a smile on his face.

Xion shook her head sadly. "We don't have any place to run."

Hope frowned sadly, slipping her hand into Axel's, who gave it a gentle squeeze while he, too, frowned sadly.

"I know. Heh, I was just thinking out loud." Roxas said, looking back at the horizon.

"Well, even if things change, we'll never be apart-" Axel began, only to have Xion finish his sentence for him.

"As long as we remember each other…right? Don't worry, Axel-we got your hokey speech memorized." Xion reassured.

Axel laughed, "Just checking."

Hope's theme begins to play~

Hope smiled at the three, pulling out her heart charm and holding it up to the sunlight, causing the charm to sparkle slightly. Axel noticed what she was doing, and pulled his out from where he kept it hidden in his coat, slipping it off from his neck and holding his up to the sun, too. Roxas and Xion followed the two adults steps, and held theirs up to the sunlight as well, all four friends smiling in silence as their charms sparkled.

"I'll have these moments memorized. Forever, I hope." Xion stated, watching as the sunlight hit her pink and black charm.

Roxas nodded in agreement with her, smiling as the sunlight his own green and blue charm. "Me too. Forever…."

Hope brought her charm back to her, holding it close to her chest and closing her eyes, letting a gentle smile settle on her face. "And so do I….Forever. Always."

That would be the last sunset the four friends would ever enjoy together.

Namine gasped as she felt the sudden change in the pod. "Sora…"

"It appears we've come to a standstill…" DiZ said as he walked up to the pod.

"Yes."

"This has gone on long enough. Riku…" DiZ began, turning around to face the boy. "I think you know what needs to be done."

"Right."

Day 353~ Resolve~

As Axel reached the top of the stairs, he was stopped by Saix. "You've meddled again."

"Sorry, did you say something?"

"We don't need them both. Just one. And pretending won't change it."

"…"

"Think about that." With that said, he left Axel to think on his words.

0o0o0o0o

"Now, here's an unlikely group. Me, Xigbar, Hope, and Xion?" Axel asked Said, while Hope was just plain confused.

"Worried I'll slow you down?" Xigbar asked with a smirk.

"'Course not. Touchy, touchy…It's just not everyday we get to go on a stroll with Number II himself. Ain't that right, guys?"

"Yeah." Xion said, agreeing with Axel, while Hope rolled her eyes.

"I lived with the guy for 6 years. I think I got enough of him then…." Hope mumbled, disliking the idea of having to go with Xigbar.

"Hey, you four are teamed up for the day?" Roxas asked as he entered the Grey Area.

"You have your own mission, Roxas." Saix stated.

"I can't trade with Xigbar or something?" Roxas asked.

"What an extremely childish notion. Do you need Axel and Hope to walk you everywhere now?"

"No…didn't-Never mind."

"Well, let's get this over with!" Hope exclaimed, following Xigbar as he walked through the open portal, Axel and Xion following right after them.

*SWOOSH* "Ha ha! Talk about a blast from the past." Xigbar exclaimed as he was pushed back.

"Cut it out, Xion!" Axel growled, Hope frowning at the scene taking place in front of her.

"Xion, stop!" Hope yelled, her eyes widening as she saw Xigbar summon his guns, an angry look on his face.

"Of all the faces…Why do I look at her and see yours?" Xigbar mumbled as he stared at Xion, her image becoming replaced by the image of a boy with spiky blonde hair and sky blue eyes, the Keyblade in his grip. "Do you always have to stare at me like I just drowned your goldfish?"

"Shut-up!" Xion screamed, before running forward and disappearing with incredible speed that Axel had never seen anyone use, except Hope.

She came up behind Xigbar and knocked him down, knocking him unconscious. She stared at his unconscious form for a moment, before looking up at Axel and Hope, who only stared back at her, looks of disappointment on their faces. Finally, she turned away and opened a portal. "Axel, Hope…I'm sorry."

"Have you flipped your lid?" Axel asked her incredulously.

"Xion…." Hope mumbled.

She looked down. "Please…let me go. I have to do this, or else-Look." She reached up, and pulled her hood, down, earning a shocked grunt from Axel, and a gasp from Hope, but of their eyes wide.

"What the…"

"You're…"

Xion pulled her hood back over her head. "Please, Axel, Hope…you two have to take care of Roxas."

"But how are you…gonna…"

"Please!"

Axel finally nodded his head, while Hope spoke. "We promise…"

"Thank you." With that last sentence, Xion left, the portal closing behind her.

A/N: So, next chapter, definitely be prepared to cry! For real! LATER TATERS!