Saïx scanned the area. Snowflakes fell from above, coating the snow already on the ground in more layers. He gazed up at the moon, which was in its last stage of waning. It seemed the next day would hold a new moon in this world.

Where to find Axel? He had been given a list of Heartless to destroy, all of which should be found near the top of the mountain. Saïx huffed and began to climb the mountain. He wasn't one to complain about missions or the worlds traversed while completing such assignments, but even he had to admit that it would be easy to get lost in this particular section of the world.

Stretched before him was unlimited snow, boundless in its paths and options. Had Axel tried to find a cave? Had he gotten injured during a fight and needed more potions than he had brought with him? Saïx had warned him before about not being prepared. Perhaps this time, it would be Axel's downfall.

Saïx fought off multiple Heartless, barely even sparing them a second glance before continuing his trek through the snow. When at last he saw a building in the distance, he sighed in relief. He paused for a moment to read the sign, which would have been easier had it not been caked in ice and snow. After knocking, he opened the door to the establishment.

"Yoohoo!" the rather large man standing behind a counter, presumably Oaken himself, waved. "Big summer blowout!" He gestured toward the rather meager pickings left in the store.

Saïx nodded in his direction. "Hello. Have you seen a man about my height with flaming red hair?" While Organization members were strictly forbidden from being seen by a world's occupants, Saïx felt that this could perhaps be an exception, given the circumstances.

Oaken's eyes widened. "Oh, ja, ja! You mean the long fellow, thin and bony? His hair is all red and—" He wiggled a hand in the air, probably trying to represent Axel's spikes… though they seemed rather similar to fireworks instead— "whoop?"

"Yes, that sounds like him." Saïx pointedly ignored the implications that Axel had been sighted. After all, if he found the fool, he would kill him himself, slowly and painfully. "Please tell me everything."

~\*/~

Candles flickered in the dark room. Zexion held his head, trying to focus on the book in front of him. However, the words were swimming in a way that way that was quite unlike them. He had the distinct impression that they'd had no such inclination yesterday. So why now?

With a sigh, he closed the book and reached for another. When his fingers touched it, it vanished. He blinked and tried for another. After twelve such tries, he took a deep breath, and began to cough.

Suddenly more books appeared. He froze. But why had they appeared now? What information was so precious as to stay in a book that appeared and disappeared at its own fancy? He must know.

~\*/~

Kristoff was awakened by Sven's nose bumping against his shoulder. "Huh? What is it?"

The reindeer looked away and then continued to nudge him. It was then that he became aware of the sound of a fire.

Kristoff stood and began to run toward the flames. Where there had been a small campfire, just enough to warm the three of them (and just easy enough to keep Olaf away from) a raging fire stood in its place. "What? But we doused the fire before we went to bed!" Groaning, Kristoff ran to fill the buckets with more snow.

"Kristoff, what happened?" Anna disentangled herself from her blankets and came to join him. She waved a hand in front of her face to dispel the smoke.

Kristoff could only shrug. "I'm not sure. I do know that we have to put this fire out. It's either that or gather everything and get away before it spreads. The snow will stop it eventually, I think." He tried not to panic.

Olaf tottered around. "Wow. What's up with the fire? So pretty!"

"I just said—" Kristoff took a deep breath and then said, "We don't know. Can you help us by moving things away from the fire?"

Olaf tottered away happily. "Oh! Axel's still asleep!"

"What?" Anna gasped. "Kristoff, you start putting out the fire. I'll wake up Axel, and then we can help you."

Mn, she looked beautiful in the firelight with that determined look on her face. The wind tossed her wildly unkempt hair, but she didn't seem to mind… Kristoff shook his head. Nope. That thought ends here. She's engaged… to a man she just met, yeah, but still engaged. He forced himself to look ahead and pick up another bucketful of snow.

~\*/~

Saïx paused. A pillar of fire glowed in the distance. This had to be the work of Axel. Who else could manufacture such a large blaze in the midst of this winter? He ran.

When at last he began to approach the fire, he found a man, a woman, and a talking snowman, just like Oaken had said. The woman was leaning over a pile of blankets.

Saïx grit his teeth and stepped forward. "Hello."

The woman started. "Um, hi?"

Saïx put a concerned tone in his voice. "I don't suppose you have news of my friend Axel? He was supposed to come home a while ago. His mother sent me to find him."

The woman's eyes softened. "Oh, Axel? Yes, he's right here! But he's really sick. I can't even get him to wake up."

Saïx nodded understandingly. "He was coughing when he left. That idiot doesn't know when to take a break."

The woman laughed. "It's nice to meet you." She held out a hand. "I'm Anna."

"Charmed. My name is Saïx." With that, he bent down to uncover Axel from the blanket cocoon.

The redhead truly did look ill. His eyes were sunken and his skin pale. Even in his unconscious state, he seemed uncomfortable without the warmth of his blankets and rolled over to bury himself in them.

Saïx picked him up. "Thank you for taking care of him," he said. "I'll see that he gets home now."

Anna smiled. "Well, if you're sure."

Saïx returned the smile and then turned away. His smile fell. His gaze fell to the limp Nobody in his arms.

Axel coughed weakly and then sneezed… all over him. Saïx scowled. From behind him, he could feel the fire grow even hotter. Well, that was their problem. Now to RTC.

He walked just far enough that the world's occupants wouldn't see him summon a Corridor of Darkness and then walked through it.

The moment he found himself back in the castle, he deposited Axel on the couch and stalked off to go change into clean clothes. Then he needed to have a meeting with Vexen.

~\*/~

Xion clasped her hands together and stared out at the heart-shaped moon. Wherever Axel was, maybe he was seeing the same sky. I wonder if Saïx has found him yet…

She took a notebook off her shelf and picked up a pencil. Her brain was too wired to sleep, occupied as it was with thoughts of worry for Axel. Roxas hadn't been too happy when he told her that Saïx would be looking for Axel instead of them. The taller Nobody was not the kindest of people, and she wasn't sure how he would act toward Axel. What if he called Axel names too?

Xion balled up her fists… and then sighed. There was nothing she could do for now. For the moment, she decided to write her thoughts and feelings in her diary. Roxas had told her all about how diaries worked when he had first become her friend. He had said to write about important things or how her day went. So she picked up her pen and began to write.

~\*/~

Vexen strode into his laboratory, feeling miserable. His head seemed to feel like it was stuffed with cotton. His sinuses were enflamed, and his throat felt unbearably dry no matter how much liquid he drank.

Of course, Saïx had come to call on him and had given him a new mission: come up with some kind of antidote for the sickness. He acted as though the scientist hadn't already been trying to come up with a solution. Ugh. He despised being told what to do, especially when it was something he'd already been doing. Some people let power go to their heads…

As he approached the bookshelves, he found his apprentice slumped over a book. Many lay in haphazard piles on and near the desk. "Zexion, are you all right?" Vexen lay a hand on the younger Nobody.

Zexion groaned and lifted his head, eyes bleary from lack of sleep. "Wha—?" he mumbled. "Vexen is that you?"

Vexen took note of the two spots of red high on the Nobody's cheekbones and then reached for his head, which was hot to the touch. As I suspected, he seems to have caught this sickness as well. Pushing back a cough, he helped the Nobody to his feet. "You need to rest. I believe you are ill."

Zexion shrugged. "I'll be fine." The fact that his eyes had slipped closed once more seemed to belie this statement.

Vexen squeezed his shoulder gently, gratified when he saw a half-lidded eye gaze up at him from beyond a mess of bangs. "No, we have seen how quickly Demyx was incapacitated through the illness. You must take precautions and rest. Not only will it further your recovery, but it will ensure you avoid extending the length of the sickness." Vexen's voice was firm but hard.

After a moment, Zexion sighed. "May I continue my research when I awaken?" Eyes downcast, he looked almost like a petulant child.

Vexen patted his shoulder. "Only if you do so in bed."

"Very well." The apprentice allowed himself to be walked to the spare bedroom adjoining the laboratory. Zexion fell asleep before his head hit the pillow. Vexen watched him for a moment and then left to gather the piles of books for Zexion's use after sleeping. However, An Extensive Knowledge on Infections and Their Causes he kept for himself. It looked promising.

He yawned. Research couldn't be done at all hours, sadly. Perhaps he should take a short nap first. But it would be best to finish this book before such nonsense. He sat on the couch, opened to the first page, and sneezed.

~\*/~

Demyx awoke drenched in sweat. He sat up and groaned, "Ugh. Sweat is gross. But why?" He blinked at the sudden realization that his face no longer felt hot. He lifted a hand to his head and confirmed that his fever had broken. Sniffling softly, the Nobody stood and reveled in his lack of a headache. "Yay! I'm alive again!"

He closed his eyes, summoned his sitar, and danced around the leaf. Suddenly, the leaf gave way, and he found himself falling toward the ground. He landed with a thud.

Demyx gingerly picked himself off the ground. "Well, now my headache's back." He squinted and then froze. "Oh, no. What time is it? Oh, bad. Oh, bad, bad, bad! I've got to RTC before Saïx finds out I wasn't there." He made to summon a Corridor of Darkness when ice appeared around his hand, encasing it in ice.

Demyx rolled his eyes. Come on, man. Really?! He found a rock on the ground and began smashing it, trying to crack the ice without hurting himself. When at last the ice shattered, Demyx again prepared to RTC. He stepped through a Corridor of Darkness to the emptiness of his room on the ninth floor. As usual, the walls were bare, fitting perfectly with the whites and greys of the bedroom. How boring… With an eyeroll, he flopped onto the bed.

Despite how hard the bed was, he did find his covers comfy. He needed to get up and maybe eat something, but it felt too nice to be in an actual bed again after his (brief) time on the run. Besides, it helped with the whole I've-been-here-in-my-room-the whole-night deception. Maybe a small nap wouldn't hurt…

Hey, there! :D I had this written yesterday, but studying for the research paper took up all my time in the afternoon/evening... So I reread it today (to make sure it still made sense) and have posted it now! :3 Enjoy!

Also, I've gotten a question about adding non-Days worlds into this Days story (such as Arendelle and Corona). Honestly, I included them just for fun, and because this is somewhat AU. It's acting as though Castle Oblivion never happened (because the AkuRokuShi friendship is far too developed for it to happen earlier, and I wanted to include the Nobodies who met their demise in CoM).

Soli Deo gloria!

~LHDD