A/N: Oh, my god, almost there.

CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

For a brief moment, Axel was in the darkness, his heartbeat echoing in his ears, his and Roxas's hands gripped tightly – then, abruptly, they were on a sidewalk in the middle of Twilight Town. Glancing around nervously, Axel had yet to internalise the concept that no one fucking noticed this shit. He wondered if he could like, blow up a building. Safely, with no people in it, obviously; but surely then someone would have to take notice? It was weird. It was like they were invisible.

As a group of teenage girls passed by, he arched over them and roared in their faces, which caused them to shriek and scatter. Then Roxas was pulling him along, laughing in disbelief, running away. "You idiot," he called over his shoulder as they sprinted from the commotion.

"I didn't think they'd notice me!" Axel panted, as they rounded a corner, the town trolley rumbling by.

"They don't notice god stuff. That's a long way from screaming in some girl's face!"

"Well, I didn't expect to suddenly be there," Axel complained, the pair of them ducking into an alleyway.

"I know. My bad. Let's try again." He took Axel's hands, unzipping the world, taking them dragging through that deep, dark dimension that seemed to crush the hope from your soul and the air from your lungs simultaneously. The pressure against Axel's flesh was immense, like he was fighting some ghastly, unseen force that wanted to twist him up, grind his bones to dust. It was like taking a breath on one side to push through to the other… but someone wanted them to stay there. To not pass through. And again, Roxas was unable; they staggered as they hit the beaches of Destiny Island, buffeted by a strong, salty wind, a storm brewing on the horizon. As they fought for their footing on the uneven, slipping sand, Roxas cursed. The wind almost blowing his hood over his hair, he stumbled into Axel, who caught him, held him steady. Roxas looked frustrated, so accustomed to doing it instantaneously, without thinking, that the task was proving more challenging than he'd expected.

"What if I try pulling back the other way?" Axel asked, voice raised to be heard over the breaking ocean. "Slow you down a bit?"

Sending him a doubtful look, Roxas nonetheless shrugged, willing to try it out. This time as he unzipped reality, he fell backwards into it, tugging Axel in his wake. Axel let himself be pulled into the void, then hauled back with all his might, dragging at Roxas, who had already opened a window to their next destination and was halfway into Cid's workshop. Axel heard the gasps on the other side, but it was like they were crossing something viscous to reach him. Even the air was dense here. He reached forward and tightly wrapped a hand around Roxas's forearm, then went completely slack and let his dead weight yank the blond back into the darkness at the same moment that the world zipped back up.

What was waiting on the other side was just what it had always appeared to be any time Axel had paid attention: darkness. Clutching one another, they seemed to both tumble and sink through the infinite emptiness, but there was something… familiar about this place, and the instant he had the thought Axel cried out as a hit of pain pulsed through his head hard enough to make him momentarily see double. They hit the ground hard a half-second later, groaning. He wasn't sure how far they'd dropped, or how fast, but with Roxas in his arms it was enough to fucking hurt. "I think I dislocated my shoulder," he choked.

"Shit." Roxas carefully extricated himself from Axel's grasp, helping him to wincingly sit up. As he did so, he glanced around, perplexed. "What is this place?" he asked, voice seeming to echo in the hollowness of existence itself. "I don't understand." Axel looked left, then right, and saw that they were on – a crumbling length of black stone, suspended in the void. He started to answer, then stopped, face contracting, mouth silently falling open as agony pierced his head, the structure shaking slightly beneath them, shedding unstable chunks. As he sagged, close to vomiting it was so blindingly intense, Roxas demanded, frantically, "What? What is it?"

"Hurts," Axel managed to whimper, Roxas wrapping him in his arms and holding him helplessly, the ground trembling beneath them.

"We just want to find Naminé!" he shouted tremulously into the darkness. "Leave Axel alone!"

Without warning, the moment the words left his lips, the ground vanished again, and, blessedly, with it went the worst of Axel's pain. What remained was almost nothing compared to what had been. Drained, he was back to falling, Roxas holding him this time, until Axel scraped together the wherewithal to try and position it so that when they landed, and he was pretty sure now where up and down were, Roxas would be cushioned. If Roxas got knocked out, they were stuck in this awful place.

However, as a great, gleaming castle came into view, their descent gradually slowed, until they were perfectly able to right themselves and simply land. They were on a length of dark road in a blackened, dead-looking place, at the end of which stood the castle. "So, what's this place, now?" Axel asked, trying to sound unaffected by it all, instead betraying the shake of his hands by the quiver in his voice.

Holding his good arm tightly, Roxas murmured, even such a low sound reverberating in the darkness, "I can't be sure… but this might be where Naminé is. That's what I said, right?" He looked at Axel. "I said we just wanted to find Naminé, and we ended up here." He looked around, clearly feeling the pressure of the place, but trying to take in what he could. "Maybe negative space manifests what you think of."

"Anything we think of?" Axel squeezed his eyes shut, thinking hard. Picturing with his whole being. After a minute, he hoarsely asked, "Is it working?"

"If you mean, is you looking like an idiot working, then yes, yes it is," Roxas earnestly answered. "Otherwise, no. What the hell are you doing?"

"I'm trying to manifest you in a bunny suit," Axel told him, ramping up the concentration. Roxas slapped his shoulder.

"Don't be stupid. This is serious, remember?"

When Axel woozily blinked, all he saw was… the darkness, the dead surroundings, and Roxas. Regular Roxas. "No bunny outfit." He couldn't quite mask his disappointment, resulting in a broad eye-roll from the object of his desire, but Roxas was nonetheless pondering what this all meant.

"Maybe it has to already exist. Like, you can't make something out of nothing, you can only… find a place that was already there." Giving Axel a long look, he hesitantly asked, "In which case… where were we before?"

"I – I don't know," Axel said, flinching as the pain flared back up when he tried to think about it. Noticing, Roxas eased off, apprehensive but unwilling to push it. Axel said he didn't know. That would have to be enough for now.

"Either way… we're definitely in the darkness. In negative space." He rolled his shoulders, the pressure getting to him, just as it was getting to Axel. Each breath felt – thick, hard to draw. Existence was effort. "And that… might where Naminé is being kept."

Axel turned his gaze to the castle. It was almost blindingly white against the sheer, obsidian blackness of its surroundings. "We can't know for sure, though, right?"

Roxas's grip on his arm tightened. Eyes wide, he nodded at something nearby. "Axel. Look."

So greatly did the castle dominate the darkness, Axel didn't notice it until Roxas pointed it out: a violin case, set on its back on the path towards the castle. Axel hesitated, then pulled free of Roxas and approached it. His gaze darted warily, Roxas remaining cautiously back, watching with tense concern. Everything about this screamed 'ambush', especially when, as he got close enough… Axel recognised that it was his own. Of course it was his. Why else would there be a violin if not specifically for Axel?

Not touching it, Axel turned his head slowly, scanning the area. "Demyx?" he carefully called. "You there, buddy?"

A long silence. Nothing but the nothing. Looking down at the case, Axel flexed his good hand, rubbed his mouth, then reached down.

Behind him, Roxas warned, "Careful, Axel."

Axel hesitated at his voice, then unclipped it and opened it up, revealing his violin, such a sweet, familiar, ordinary sight that it made his chest ache. He touched the neck, then gently ran his fingers down the strings, touching the bow delicately. Everything was here. Everything looked normal. When his raised his head, there was still no sign of Demyx, or any other interloper, for that matter. Whoever had put this here had been and gone with a purpose; they wanted his attention, and they had it.

He heard Roxas's footsteps on the loose path as he came up behind him, peering down uncertainly, as the ambush scenario lost its potential. "It's definitely yours," he observed, Axel smiling slightly. He glanced over his shoulder.

"You really were a fan of mine, weren't you?"

Roxas blinked. "What's with this 'were'? Did you retire when I wasn't paying attention?"

Axel tilted his head. "You know what I mean. There's a line in the sand, isn't there? Between then…" He looked longingly down at his violin, then, sighing, closed the case and clipped it shut. "…and now."

"…There doesn't need to be," Roxas told him, with a frown. "Don't forget who you are in all this. You're more than just your god, Axel."

Looking up at him, Axel asked, "So you think this whole war with Xehanort… it's going to go okay? I'll be back out on the sidewalks before we know it? No Nobodies, nothing to worry about?" Roxas didn't have an answer; he couldn't. Maybe everyone else had been able to both be a god and still maintain their mortal lives, but Axel hadn't really been given a choice. It was fight, or die, and it fucking sucked. It barely even felt like his war, if he was honest with himself. If not for Demyx and Roxas, he wouldn't have even felt a true reason to fight. He was so new to all this, but here he was on his knees in the dirt in some fucking imaginary place that somehow existed outside of normal space, and just…

No. No, normal was gone.

Axel stood with consternation, dragging the violin case with him, probably more roughly than he should have, so that the small note stuck to the back of it fluttered to the ground. It was a small square of white in the gloom, dirty from being face-down on the path. Roxas picked it up, turning it over with the tips of his fingers, like he was handling something dangerous. There was writing on the other side, Axel scowling with incomprehension as he read aloud, "A gift, given with care by… Xion?"

His voice a murmur, Roxas said, "I think we should leave."

"But –"

Roxas created an opening in the dark reality and stepped through, pulling Axel with him. As the world zipped shut around them, Axel found that they had returned to Cid's workshop, a collection of exclamations ringing out at their re-entry. He stumbled slightly, both from the sudden loss of pressure, and Roxas pacing away from under his arm. Riku was the one to support him, helping him remain upright as Roxas went straight to Kairi with the note.

Startled, she took it from him, glancing around at the rest of them before reading it. Her eyes went wide, her body very still. "You said this name earlier," Roxas stated, with barely contained agitation. "Xion. Who is she? And why is she leaving Axel's violin for us to find right where Naminé might be held prisoner?"

"So you found it? You entered negative space?" Cid asked with great interest, not realising that, beside him, Vincent was reacting in much the same way as Kairi. When everyone stared, he asked, "What?" then finally looked sideways. Vincent locked gazes with Kairi, who looked… dazed.

"Could it be?" the man asked, in his deep, low rasp.

"No one's seen Xion for… millennia," Kairi faintly said. "I assumed she had been cycling so deeply that no one ever noticed her."

"Who is Xion?" Roxas demanded, frustrated and… bothered, somehow. Axel went to his side, holding his violin case and cradling his injured arm.

"Xion was… a creation of Xehanort's," Kairi told them, her expression pinched. "An attempt at a god that he could use as a puppet. Even then, he was experimenting in the most… blasphemous ways." She winced at the ancient memory, her fingers tightening on the note. "But Xion broke away from him. She became her own god."

"A god of nothing," Vincent muttered.

"But also of deception," Kairi dubiously added. "It was all she'd ever known, after all. Pretending. Acting. Passing. She even passed as a god because of her ability to enter negative space at will."

"So, wait – that was her domain we were just in?" Axel asked incredulously. "She goes there voluntarily?"

"You're not understanding, Axel," Kairi said, almost twisting the note. "She has signed this as Xion. She's going by her ancient name. No one does that. I don't. Even Xehanort is going by Xemnas. But she… she seems self-aware." She grimaced, disconcerted. "So either Xehenort woke her… or she was already awake."

"Can't a reincarnation, like… spontaneously awaken?" Axel asked, but Kairi shook her head.

"There's no point in a cycle of decay only for the subjects to keep waking up and – being gods." Looking around at them, she said, "I assure you, every single person in this room is unnatural. None of us should be aware of who we are. None of us was ever meant to. But one of us refused," she gestured to herself, "some of us were woken against their will," she gestured to the group associated with Cloud, "and the others… were woken by means they shouldn't have been." At this, she glanced guiltily at Roxas, who stiffened.

"Wait, what does that mean?"

"You were used, Roxas, you know that, don't you?" Kairi gently took hold of his hands, the note folded between their palms. "Ansem used you to awaken any gods that you noticed, because of your ability to let them see their own timelines. That means that each time you found a god…"

"…Xehanort found a god," Roxas realised, looking pale and nauseated. "Oh, god." His eyes rolled back into his head, and he collapsed, Axel shouting in alarm, dropping to his side, pushing the sweaty hair from his cold forehead.

"Oh, damn it, I forgot to tell you, too," Aerith yelped, before covering her mouth. "Um. Excuse me. Kairi, dear, Roxas has a seal on his memories from Ansem. We cannot have discussions directly related to Ansem's betrayal without causing the seal to trigger, which causes Roxas to, well." She gestured at his unconscious body.

Frustrated, Axel demanded, "Isn't there a way to get rid of the damn seal? This is getting ridiculous! We are literally going to be fighting Ansem. We need Roxas."

Awkwardly, Aerith shook her head. "It's powerful, Axel," she explained. "If a seal were to break… I don't exactly know what would happen to the mind of the person affected."

"But – but we've all been affected in the past," Axel desperately argued. "Why isn't anyone else doing this every time that comes up?"

"…As best as I can tell," Aerith uneasily explained, seeming to select each word with extreme care, "it only has this effect when the seal is – foundational. For Roxas, his entire identity was built on the lie that Ansem was to be trusted. He believed in him, even if he didn't much like him. For…" She swallowed whatever she had been planning on saying next, closing her eyes briefly as if to reset her thoughts. "My point is, I don't think there's a way to successfully release Roxas from the seal, no."

Helplessly, as Roxas's body began to twitch and shudder, Axel gently cushioned his head with his thighs. Vincent came and stood over them, staring down at Roxas with his piercing gaze, like he was studying the blockage. "It is very solid," he admitted, Axel glaring up at him.

"Great. Thank you. That was super helpful. Any other useful comments to add?"

Vincent stared at him now, for a beat longer than felt comfortable, before answering, "…No."

Sharply tutting, Axel returned his attention to Roxas, Sora crouching behind him watching his twin twitch and thrash with tears in his eyes, Axel focused on keeping him from slipping from his lap. Eventually, the motions eased, then ceased, leaving a panting, blinking Roxas in their wake. "What…? Ah!" He hissed as the pain of his muscles hit. "I am… getting really tired of this," he grated.

"Don't worry about it," Axel softly said, stroking his damp hair. Kairi looked stricken as Roxas was helped to his feet, clearly at a loss.

"Oh, that's not all there is," Riku muttered, wearily, Kairi glancing at him with a sharp question in her gaze. When Axel frowned in his direction, he looked away. "Never mind."

"So, about… Xion…" Roxas asked, sounding heavier than he had before, using Axel's shoulder to drag himself up to sitting.

Kairi looked at Aerith uncertainly, receiving a nod to continue. With a deep breath, she tentatively explained, "Well, Xion, she…" She paused to briefly compose herself, touching a hand to her brow for just a moment. Seeing Roxas like that had rattled her. The fact that is was basically treated as something normal by everyone else… wasn't a good thing. Axel's frustration was fierce, but futile. He had no fucking idea how to fix this, and it was all he wanted to do. Holding Roxas firmly, Sora clinging to his twin's hand, he waited until she was ready to proceed. "Xion shouldn't be aware of herself, let alone going by her original name. The implication is… huge."

"Another rebellion against the cycle," Vincent suggested.

"But in what capacity?" Kairi asked, dispiritedly, knowing full well that no one present had the answer. "She clearly knew of Axel well enough to leave his violin, but that also means that she has direct access to Axel's friend."

Axel's head dipped slightly at the mention of Demyx. He hadn't considered that. "'A gift'," he murmured.

"Put right where Naminé might be," Roxas added, tiredly. Axel squeezed him, as Roxas bumped his head against Sora's to rest.

"So, wait, you really did find her?" Tifa demanded, amazed.

"Maybe?" Roxas and Axel looked at each other, Axel nodding slightly. "Probably. It's hard to say. But… we found somewhere. A castle in negative space. And that violin was there, waiting for us."

"Give it here!" Cid barked, his expression having grown increasingly dour as the conversation progressed. Not waiting for Axel to respond, he bent and snatched up the violin case and took it away.

"Hey – hey! That's mine!" Axel called after him, angrily. "What the hell do you think you're doing?"

Cid flicked open the locks and, entirely too roughly, slammed the case open and yanked out Axel's violin. Grabbing some long-handled wand-like device from the workbench, he clicked it on with a low hum and waved it over and around the violin, and across the innards and externals of the case. After a hesitation, he also stalked over to Kairi and held it over the note. Whatever he'd been expecting to happen apparently wasn't happening.

"Well?" Axel demanded.

"…Well, none of it's being tracked," Cid admitted, disgruntled. "But you shouldn't just bring something from the enemy domain back to headquarters, you fuckin' dimwits." For good measure, he waved the wand over Axel and Roxas, but all it elicited was its quiet hum. Clicking it off, Cid took it back to the workbench, stuffing Axel's violin back into its case – "Careful, for fuck's sake!" – and walked it back to Axel, holding it out.

Axel, already holding Roxas up, shrugged. "I – I can't. I hurt my shoulder."

Sighing, Cid deposited it next to him, while Aerith darted over to inspect him. "You should have mentioned it sooner," she scolded, carefully tugging at his collar and feeling around the site. When Axel flinched away, she nodded regretfully. "That's dislocated."

"Knew it," Axel mumbled.

"We'll need to do it the old-fashioned way, I'm afraid," she told him. "Nothing puts a bone back in its socket but a bit of… oomph."

"Fantastic," Axel exhaustedly responded. Roxas leaned away from him, onto Sora, letting Axel stand up, where, between them, Tifa and Aerith popped his shoulder back into place on the count of nothing, because no one fucking warned him it was coming. It was just done, and he was sagging in Tifa's arms as the pain made him light-headed. In the next moment, Aerith was sprinkling fresh cure powder over the shoulder, and the pain eased immeasurably. "Thank you," Axel breathed, regaining his footing. Tifa patted his back soothingly. Shooting a look at Kairi, he then asked, "So, what now? You're the oldest one here."

"Oh, but I'm not –"

Before she could finish, Axel exasperatedly interrupted, "We don't need a war god. It hasn't exactly done us favours until now, has it?" Looking around at them all, hidden away in some random town, hoping against hope that no one would track them down, he said, with a strength that they couldn't help but pay attention to, "Maybe we weren't supposed to wake up, but we're here now, aren't we? Us and our… skeletons." He glanced at Cid. "The old bones may as well be good for something. And no one's bones are older than yours," he said to Kairi, grinning slightly as she looked vaguely offended, but the mirth was short-lived. "What we need," he went on, "is someone who knows the enemy. Not just their strategic habits, but their – histories. Their powers. Their inclinations. And you know it all, Kairi. You're the only one of us who has the one thing we're lacking the most: info."

"And your memories have never been compromised," Vincent murmured, slowly nodding his approval.

"Plus, the fact that you're not a war god actually makes me feel better," Sora volunteered from beside Riku. "Like, aren't they the last people we want leading us? They seem kinda, I don't know. Murder-y."

"They do seem murder-y," Cid conceded, thoughtfully, before shrugging. "Doesn't bother me who's in charge."

"But Leon!" Kairi argued.

"Is busy with Cloud," Tifa said, looking at Aerith, who nodded once, firmly. "We're in. We'll follow Kairi."

"Riku?" Kairi turned to him, almost pleadingly. The mantle of leader was a difficult one to bear, and she didn't look excited at the prospect. All the more reason to vote her in.

"I think you're our best, most level-headed shot at winning." Riku's plain statement made Kairi's shoulders sink. If anyone else was leadership material, it would have been him. But he had no interest, either; and more to the point, he wasn't as qualified.

"You're it, kid," Axel told her, matter-of-factly. "You're all we've got."

Eyes widening, she complained, "Oh, so no pressure, then! You guys do know I'm still just a nineteen-year-old girl, right?"

"Oh, fuck off," Roxas scoffed, weighing in after having regained some energy. "You can't have it both ways, Kairi. You can't call me and Sora aberrations one day and then claim to be a simple island girl the next."

"I did also call us all unnatural, if you'll recall," she pointed out. "You guys are hardly unique in all this."

"Oh, so now we're not unique enough. Hear that, Sora?" Roxas raised his voice. "We're hardly unique."

"Oh, fuck off," Kairi mirrored back at him, a smile tugging at the corners of her mouth. She looked around at them, meeting each set of eyes to confirm their assent, before releasing a sigh of resignation. She might not have been a god of war, but she knew when was beaten. "So you want me as leader, then. You're in agreement? You're certain?"

Axel glanced around, seeing nothing but clear faces. Not a hint of doubt, not even from Cid. "So, then," he asked, only slightly sarcastically, "what next, o fearless leader?"

Kairi thought about it, rubbing her thumbs absently over Xion's note. "Well," she eventually answered, sounding unsure of the responsibility, "I think we should rescue Naminé. The original plan goes ahead. You think you found her, right?" Axel and Roxas nodded. "Then, the next step is taking… all of us there. So we can locate her, and save her before Xehanort and Ansem do anything drastic." Observing the condition of both Roxas and Axel, she said, after a beat, "Take – three hours to rest and prepare. Then, we go find Naminé."