Chapter Ten: Dream

Secret Report: Axel II

So. The princess of heart is here with a keyblade. Following the feelings of her friends right into this castle. Then again, that's not what I'm too concerned about. Roxas has been acting strange. Slipping away after dinner and spending time with Naminé in her room.

The only thing I can think of is that he's interested in her somehow.

Maybe it's the fact that they're the Nobodies of two people who were close. Maybe it's the fact that they're the only people they really know that's their own age. Can't say for sure. All I know is that as long as it doesn't interfere with his training, I can let the two have their dates for now.

Roxas on a date before me. Never would have thought of it. Not that dating's much of an option for me anymore. Hard for someone without a heart to work up feelings for anyone. Still, it makes things interesting...

I'm getting off topic. As long as I can make Roxas strong enough to keep him out of Marluxia's hands as a hostage and make sure he's on my side, I'll be good to go for this assignment.

Finally, Kairi had some room to breathe. Her keyblade vanished away as she leaned on a wall to catch her breath. Though she had to admit, she was getting tired of the same pale hallways of Castle Oblivion. Honestly, at least Hollow Bastion had the remnants of something grand in its architecture. This all just felt sterile.

She furrowed her brow as she began to think. Hollow Bastion was her old home, before Ansem had thrown her into the void to be led to Destiny Islands. And while her memories of Naminé were vague, somehow she knew her. Knew that there was something that bothered her in the back of her mind. Before all of a sudden she vanished from them one day.

Was it this castle? Was this place Naminé's original home? Maybe the reason she left would be here. Kairi shook her head. Maybe when they met again, they could find the answers. Even though Kairi still had questions of her own about her past. Like why that castle library felt too familiar to her.

Almost as if she grew up there.

"Tuckered out?" At the voice, Kairi got to her feet and re-summoned her keyblade. The voice chuckled as a dark portal appeared in front of her, and the voice's owner walked out of it, "Well the good news is that the next room ahead has some good wards to keep darkness away." The man with the spiky red hair smirked, "But the bad news is that I can't let you in there just yet. The name's Axel. Got it memorized?" She slowly nodded, her tension uneased at his casual cheer. The man extended his arms out, still smiling, "Good to see that you're a quick learner princess."

Kairi tightened her grip on her Keyblade. He knew who she was. Something like that was barely known in all the worlds. And in a flash of flame, two chakrams appeared in his hands. Axel's grin grew wider as the fire danced around his weapons, "Now let's see how well you've learned how to sling a keyblade!"

And in that moment, Kairi wished she learned a different first spell besides fire.

Reaching back, Axel hurled one of the flaming discs towards her. Thankful for having had practice against the heartless, she rolled away from the projectile. Feeling the heat from the surrounding flames fade she turned to face Axel, but he was gone.

"Over here!" A voice called from the other side of the arena. She looked over and saw Axel appearing to catch the weapon he had just thrown. In a flash, he threw its counterpart at her. Again, she moved away, but this time she made sure to keep an eye on the chakram as it flew by. Sure enough, Axel appeared to catch the fiery disc. And she had made sure to roll right where he ought to have been. Taking the chance she began to slash away at him, knocking him back.

"I'm not done!" Kairi thought back to her time in Sora's heart, remembering the techniques he used with his own keyblade. And just as he focused his own strength, she focused her own. In a flash she dashed forward with her keyblade thrusted toward her target. Striking him as she passed by, she directed herself right back at him. Dashing again, and again, the sonic blade charged at Axel. Finally she came to a halt and turned to her target.

"If you're still in this, then catch!"

And saw the chakram just as it knocked into her. Though she was thankful the keyblade and practice against the heartless made her strong enough to withstand the attack, it still hurt. Just as each of Axel's other strikes did once the first hit connected. He caught and re-tossed his chakrams one, twice, before throwing them both at her to knock her away.

Stumbling to her feet, she quickly chugged one of the potions she had looted from the heartless. Wounds mending, she re-focused her attention on Axel watching him gather flames at his feet. "If you can't stand the heat, then I'll make it all stop!", at that, the ground ignited into a pillar of fire around him and soon expanded out into a wall of fire.

Kairi had just enough time to hold out her keyblade, keeping to the ground so it could defend more of her. As fire met her weapon, the heat was sweltering. But miraculously, the keyblade was able to protect her from the worst of it. Looking up, she saw Axel take a moment to regain focus. It was a chance to counterattack, but with what? She was too far to use her keyblade at this range. And she didn't know blizzard just yet. What else did she have?

Her heart…

A heart of light.

And she realized the power that had been waiting for her to call it forth. "Light!"

It was a single spark, barely the size of her hand that appeared before Axel. He smirked, "That's it? That's all light—?" But when it exploded in a flash, Axel cried out as it knocked him back, "AAARGH! NOT ALL! THAT'S DEFINITELY NOT ALL LIGHT CAN DO!" With him stunned, Kairi stumbled to her feet, and began to slash away at him, until finally the keyblade knocked him back to vanish into darkness.

Propping herself up with the keyblade, Kairi let out a sigh of relief, "At least that's over."

"Over?" Axel's voice made Kairi turn towards the sound. Towards him leaning on the castle walls with a smirk, "You think that I'd drop dead so soon after we met?"

Then it clicked for Kairi just what Axel was doing, "This was a test."

"And you pass! Well done, Kairi!" With a flourish, blue cards appeared in his hands which he tossed over to her, "Now it's time for you to walk the path of Castle Oblivion."

Looking at them, Kairi saw pictures. Very familiar pictures. "These are worlds Sora's seen."

Axel nodded as he began to walk closer, "Memories of those worlds. And what you'll need to follow. To trust what you remember, and seek what you forget." He crossed his arms with a smile as he finished, "Then you'll meet someone very special to you."

"Sora?" Her head snapped up in shock. Was he truly here? But there was someone else that she wanted to see again too, "Is it Riku?" Axel remained as unperturbed as ever.

"What about Naminé?"

At that, Axel raised an eyebrow, his calm finally giving way to some surprise, "What about Naminé?" He tapped his chin for a moment, turning away, "Well, that is a good question. Maybe you'll find the answer the further you go." But a moment later, he gave a backward glance and an offered hand, "Or maybe I could give you a hint?"

A moment of silence passed before Kairi shook her head, "No. This is something I need to do myself."

Axel took the refusal with a smile, turning to her and clapping, "Good answer! I'd expect nothing less of a princess of heart." As darkness appeared around him, he still kept on grinning, "So I'll just give a warning. You might not like the answer when you find it." And in the blink of an eye he was gone.

Walking up the stairs, Kairi saw runes and glyphs along the edge of the chamber leading to the next floor. Letting her keyblade vanish, she began to rummage through some of the items the heartless had dropped. Magic restoration and healing were plenty, as she moved aside some of the potions and elixirs she had picked up absentmindedly. But eventually, she found what she needed. A small pack of camping gear, good for one night of rest. Half an hour later, she had eaten the rations and unfurled a sleeping bag in a corner of the room. As she rested, she began to think of everything that brought her here.

All through Sora's journey, she had barely been able to do as much as she wished. And by the time she was free, it was far too dangerous to follow Sora to The End of the World. But now her path led here. To where all her cherished friends were being held. Some gone for a moment, others for years. But there was no way she'd listen to someone as suspicious as Axel.

Sora said that his friends were his power. But...that wasn't just it. She could tell that it was the strength of his heart that let him become as strong as he did with the Keyblade. At that, she brought a hand to her own chest. She'd need as much strength her heart could muster if she wanted to help all her friends. Sora, Riku, And Naminé.

With that last thought, sleep came to her. In her far off dreams, scattered memories were recalled, of two girls sitting by the beach and smiling as they watched at the friends they cared about.

Axel walked out of the portal to where the rest of the Organization was watching and gave a nod, "She checks out."

Larxene rolled her eyes, "Either that or you're going soft."

Rolling his arms, Axel walked by her toward the door, "Considering I'm busting my butt out there with Roxas, I think my combat credentials are solid."

Marluxia stood in front of him, "And how is Roxas?"

Axel rolled his eyes and tried to move past to the exit, "I'm sure Zexion gave you a report—"

Only for Marluxia's firm grip on his shoulder to stop him, a glare from the man fixing him in place, "I want to hear from you."

Axel sighed and shrugged, "Hard to say, he's doing alright during missions, but we haven't talked much after. Seems more interested in Naminé." Marluxia and Larxene looked to each other with raised eyebrows, while Axel tried to gently move Marluxia's hand off of him, 'Considering you've both been busy at the end of the day I figured there'd be no problem if he took his turn to watch over her." His attempts to move the grip on his shoulder were futile.

But eventually Marluxia relented and released him, "Very well. For now we can call this day complete."

"And what of a report to Xemnas?" Lexeus spoke just as Axel turned to leave.

Vexen nodded, "All of these complications to the Castle Oblivion operation should be brought to his attention. Should this get out of control—."

"All of these changes are manageable," Marluxia held up a hand to silence the complaint, "For now, we need not report all of these events to him. We shall reconvene tomorrow to discuss our strategy." With that, he vanished from the room along with Larxene.

Vexen sighed "Yes, I suppose I could do with some rest before proceeding further." Lexeaus nodded in agreement, and the two departed in shadow as well.

Leaving Zexion to uneasily ask Axel, "So...our deal?"

Axel shook his head and went to the door, "I'll wait for tomorrow when Roxas is going to be up to collect on that. Right now, I've got to get something substantial to eat and hit the hay."

"You're still up?"

Donald's voice interrupted Sora's musing as he lay in his sleeping bag. Though most of the nicer camping sets sold by moogles were used up by this point, they usually managed to pick up one set in reserve. Sora sat up and shook his head,"Just can't stop thinking."

Goofy propped himself up on his arm from his bag, "About Roxas? Are ya sure you know him?"

Sora nodded, "Positive. Just looking at him, I feel like I've known him all my life.

"Funny you never mentioned him before," A voice from his backpack got his attention, and out from one of the flaps, Jiminy Cricket poked out a head, "Like that girl you're remembering."

Of course. The girl in white on the islands. The one who moved away. The one he was only remembering just now. "Yeah. Meeting him. Remembering her. They've got to be connected." There was no way the two would show up in his life right when he entered this castle.

Jiminy cupped his chin in thought, "It's a little suspicious you're remembering things instead of forgetting like that man said." Though after a moment, he sighed and shook his head, "But you're not going to get anywhere if you keep yourself up all night."

"Yeah. I guess you're right." So Sora settled into his corner of the room with a blanket, thoughts of Roxas and the girl replaying themselves in his mind. How Roxas seemed so desperate to prove something, to fight in that arena. As for the girl? He knew she was an old friend from long ago. Knew that she hung out with him, Kairi, and Riku. But who was she to him? What was their friendship truly like?

At the very least, he knew that it wasn't the same as how he felt toward Kairi. He pulled the charm from his pocket and looked at it with a small smile. There wasn't anyone quite like Kairi, not in all the worlds.

Sleep came easy that night.

And that night he dreamed again.

A blue sky…The ocean…An island…

Sora was there as always. So was the silver haired boy who helped to drive Sora forward. And Kairi, the girl who was so special to Sora. And Naminé, sitting to the side and drawing. Memories drifting through the scattered dream.

And he could see every piece of those memories.

He watched them play games. Look out to the horizon and wonder what they might see on other worlds. Telling stories about heroes and legends. Laughing at jokes.

What was that like?

He wanted to know.

He wanted to feel.

But when he tried to reach out. Tried to touch that memory for himself, it just wasn't right. He felt his body move along the beach, but it was Sora who was making it happen. His eyes saw the small island they played on, but Sora was the one who chose what to see. He spoke, but it was Sora's voice and Sora's words.

Sora looked to Naminé. Again, asking her to join in. She just shook her head with a smile, saying she had a hard time back at home…

That smile. It wasn't like Naminé's other smiles.

It felt so empty.

He wanted to go to her. To ask if she was okay. To offer a hand.

But Sora wanted to talk with Kairi and his friend and think of something Naminé could do with them.

So he walked away. His words unsaid.

Even though he could hear a quiet sigh from Naminé.

Her eyes fluttering open, Naminé looked at the globe in the center of the room. Getting up from the cold hard floor, she waved a hand for it to show the time. She groaned as it showed that it was indeed another morning.

Another morning after watching memory after memory become pieced together in everyone's heads.

So many happy memories.

So many fake memories.

She picked up the notepad she had been working in to try and focus on Sora's memories. To get back to her work. But she just couldn't stop looking at the pile of notebooks in the corner. Or rather, to one of them.

One that had pictures of a blonde boy in black. A boy that helped her believe that she belonged. Even despite the pain that he suffered himself. If only she could just hold his hand. She couldn't heal the pain completely. But she knew those moments together made it just a touch brighter. Naminé's grip on the notebook tightened. "Roxas…I...I wish..."

"I wish I could do more for you." Ever since she came into his life things had begun to change. Roxas had been changing. For once, there was something besides just missions and ice cream. Maybe that was what was drawing him towards those memories as he slept. Why he wanted to help her with the pain of those memories.

But a glance at the clock besides his bed told him that he needed to get up for today's mission. He went to the front of his bed, and opened the footlocker containing his wardrobe. Stuffed to one side, his old outfit in white with his other undergarments. While the black cloaks were neatly folded on the other side.

He hadn't gotten rid of the white jacket and pants just yet. Even though he had been encouraged by Saïx to discard them as quickly as possible, a tiny part didn't want to let go at first. At the very least, they were his clothes so he wanted to keep them. Now? Having seen how a lot of the Organization was acting, it seemed better for him to keep some clothes that were his own.

Maybe when he had free time with Naminé after this, he might wear that other outfit. Something besides the same black cloak.

But for today, he'd get questions if he showed up out of uniform. Easily slipping into the black cloak as usual, he opened the door to go find Axel and Zexion for the day's mission.

Only to find Marluxia standing before him.

"We must talk, Roxas."