I do not own Kingdom Hearts or any of the characters.

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Tyler bounced off his back, flipping backward and slamming his feet to the ground, stabbing his keyblade into the ground and skidding to a stop. He sighed, looking at Lightning as she brushed her sweaty bangs out of her face. They'd been sparring for longer than usual today, enough for even her to be covered in sweat. She had bean him into an aching mess, but she hadn't finished the sparring match more than three times, even after nearly a half hour of constant back and forth, using both blades and spells. He didn't think she was holding back, more like she was testing his endurance. He was kind of impressed with himself for still being standing. His entire body ached, he was almost out of magic energy, and his whole body was trembling. And yet, when Lightning shot forward yet again, barely two seconds after having sent him flying with an Aero spell, Tyler met her charge, despite his body's protests.

It was the last day they would be at the resort. Once they finished training, they'd be heading back to the ship and heading off to whatever world they'd be staying, whether for good, or to figure out their next move. So, after another hour of training, and Lightning taking him down another eight times total, they finally called it, both of them drenched in sweat and both sporting bruises this time. He was a little proud to have managed to land a few hits, even if he did feel guilty for hitting her. They made their way back down the mountain to where the others were waiting.

"Finally," Fang said, raising an eyebrow as Lightning winced and held her side where Tyler had landed a particularly good hit with his keyblade, his only successful victory in the sparring session.

"You both look worn out," Serah noted.

"We were sparring for an hour and a half without stopping," Tyler groaned. "I hurt everywhere."

"I bet," Noel laughed. "You'll probably need help moving tomorrow, if you were her punching bag that whole time."

"Less punching and more being bounced around like a basketball by her spells," Tyler said, eyes betraying his falling mood.

Noel laughed.

"I'm pretty sure I'm the one that's going to need help moving," Lightning said, Tyler looking at her in surprise. "Assuming I bother waking up at all."

"Tired?" Fang asked.

"Exhausted," Lightning said. "You did amazingly Tyler. And just so you know, I was trying as hard today as I was yesterday."

Tyler blinked in surprise before his eyes widened slightly and he smiled slightly before it fell slightly. "I still only got you once."

"You got her?" Fang gaped.

"Only because her foot slipped as she moved to block it," Tyler asked. "Why?"

"Even with something like that, none of us have ever been able to get her," Fang said.

"My foot didn't slip, Tyler," Lightning frowned, Tyler looking over at her confused. "My legs were so tired they almost buckled, and trying to keep from just collapsing took too much strength for me to be able to get my gunblade up in time to block your strike. It was a good victory, not a fluke. If you'll recall, I used a healing spell right after it? That was for my muscles, not the hit. I'm going to have a bruise taking up my entire side to prove you won."

"Wait, you were regenerating your muscles during that?" Tyler asked, feeling like an idiot for not having thought about it.

"You weren't?" Lightning gaped. "But you healed yourself a bunch of times."

"Yeah, the bruises," Tyler said. "Not that it mattered, since you just made more. But no, I've never even thought to regenerate my muscles."

Lightning laughed. "You are a machine, Tyler. And you claim to be weak while fighting for an hour and a half straight."

"Everyone ready?" Oswald asked, walking over.

Everyone agreed and Oswald raised a black remote, only to stop, staring past everyone as his eyes narrowed.

"Excuse me, but did you all say that kid has a keyblade?" a male voice asked, everyone turning and seeing a guy with a black cloak like Oswald wore, red hair spiked backward, and small purple diamonds under his eyes with the bottoms stretched slightly.

"Yeah," Tyler said before noticing everyone tensing and preparing themselves to fight, instantly doing the same.

"Organization XIII," Oswald said.

"Axel?" Serah asked, the guy staring at her, eyes widening. "What are you doing here?"

"Oh, you're that girl the Heartless were after," Axel said, eyes shifting to Alice, who was standing beside Serah, and who smiled and waved at him. Axel smiled and raised his hand as well. "Hey there, kid."

"You two know him?" Tyler asked.

"He saved us from the monsters," Alice explained.

"That's right," Serah nodded. "A little while after I found Alice, we were attacked by Heartless again, and he found us and killed them all. Then he led us to another person wearing a cloak like that and they worked together to get us to the world with the video games safely."

"I see," Tyler said. "Then it seems we owe you our thanks."

"Don't mention it," Axel said. "I couldn't let a pretty girl and a child be taken by the Heartless. Wouldn't be right."

"I see," Tyler nodded. "Again, I thank you. Now, what do you want?"

"Well ya see, if you've got a keyblade, the Organization could really use you," Axel said. "You'd be a big help."

"Not interested," Tyler said flatly.

"Don't you even want to hear what we could use you for?" Axel asked.

"No," Tyler said. "No offense, but the last time I heard about Organization XIII, they were siccing Sora on me just for shits and giggles. I'm grateful to you, but I'm not working with you."

"Geez," Axel sighed. "And after I saved your friend and her kid."

"She's not mine," Serah said. "She's his niece."

"Oh, my bad," Axel said, smiling and raising his hands innocently. "I didn't mean to assume." He sighed heavily. "But, you're really putting me in a bind here. I didn't just happen across this place. I was told to offer you the job. But if you refused, I was given these icky orders to recruit you by any means necessary."

The ground suddenly flashed in a pair of circles, trapping everyone but Lightning and Tyler inside domed barriers. The others all tried to break through instantly, Oswald even using his own keyblade, but the barrier held.

"Oh yeah, the little keyblade-wielding pilot," Axel said. "Forgot about you. Eh. You weren't included." He looked back to Tyler as Lightning drew her gunblade. "Whoops. Guess I missed one. Oh well. Shouldn't make too much difference."

He held his arms out to his sides slighting and a pair of rings of flames erupted to life under them before going out, leaving behind a pair of spinning chakrams formed from a ring of metal with four smaller rings spread evenly along it and overlapping it, then a small bladed spike on the outside of each small ring, then in-between them, eight blades total, then with a cross-shaped handle inside the chakrams. All of the metal was silver on the outside, then red inside, and with black on the grips. Each blade was about as long as Tyler's hand from his wrist to the end of his middle finger, and the chakrams themselves were a little more than forearm-length.

"You're making a huge mistake," Tyler warned, summoning his keyblade.

"This is your last chance to come quietly," Axel warned.

Tyler and Lightning both readied themselves and Axel sighed, shaking his head. Then, his arm snapped up, sending his suddenly flaming chakram flashing across the distance at Lightning, who slashed it away with her gunblade, the chakram spinning away, then curving around and back to Axel as his second chakram sped toward Tyler. Tyler likewise slashed it aside, then charged. He watched Axel carefully. He didn't know who the Organization were, but he could tell Axel was dangerous.

Axel huffed, spinning around Tyler's slash just as he caught his first chakram and Tyler's blood ran cold. He began to turn as Axel caught his second chakram, then slammed a kick into his chest, hurling him. Tyler bounced off his back and rolled backward, regaining his feet as Axel deflected Lightning's gunblade rapidly with his chakrams, using them like spinning, flaming melee weapons.

"You're much better than your friend," Axel smirked, then spun, deflecting her gunblade out to the side just as Lightning's legs wobbled dangerously.

Tyler's eyes widened. She had been serious. She was exhausted. Pride and terror flooded hi in equal measure. He had actually pushed her to the point of collapsing with their training, and he hadn't even noticed. While he was proud of actually being able to, that meant a very serious problem now. She was about to be killed. Terror flooded him and he swiped a hand, a barrier the same as he'd gotten good at blocking Lightning's spells with during their training flashing into existence around her, Axel's chakram bouncing off of it and Axel grunting in pain, rolling his wrist before kneeling and picking his keyblade back up.

"You're friend here's pretty wiped out," Axel said. "I guess you were working her pretty hard with your training, huh? But she's clearly not teaching you well. Never rush into conflict. Got it memorized!?"

As he said the last word, he sent his right chakram speeding at Tyler, but Tyler deflected it calmly, holding his keyblade with only his right hand, eyes narrowed but carefully studying Axel, who raised an eyebrow as he caught the chakram. Tyler's brain ran through all of his training in a second. He needed his left hand free for spells. Axel was obviously a fire-type, and he didn't want to get burned, but if he tried to fight two-handed, he wouldn't be able to get his left hand up in time to use a barrier spell or anything else he needed, just like he couldn't against Lightning, so he'd have to fight one-handed. Aside from that, he'd have to be careful. Fortunately, it didn't seem like this guy, or his chakrams, were as fast as Lightning. He could do this.

"Yes," Tyler said. "I've got it memorized. And I think it's time for me to show you what I've learned during my training these last three says."

Axel laughed. "In three days? What, a new fancy slashing technique? Maybe a new spell?"

Tyler smirked as Lightning stared at Tyler in surprise, seeing the way his entire bearing had shifted to a cold confidence that she had never seen in him. Axel smirked, swinging his arms forward, and a barrage of fireballs exploded from his chakrams, exploding against a barrier Tyler had formed with his left hand. However, Tyler let it fade instantly, channeling magic into his eyes to see through the smoke before charging. The smoke ended just in front of Axel, too close for him to react properly. Then, Tyler burst from the smoke, slashing at Axel, who shouted in surprise, barely deflecting Tyler's rapid one-handed slashes before Tyler spun past a chakram, slashing at Axel, who leapt away, flipping and catching his chakrams, landing on his feet. All of Tyler's friends besides the children, Lightning, and Oswald cheered. Lightning watched Tyler in a mixture of awe and pride, remembering using that same trick on him effectively, and Oswald was gaging Tyler's progress calmly. Axel watched Tyler through narrowed eyes for a moment before crouching slightly, raising his arms a few inches to his sides and beginning to build his magic energy.

"BURN! ! !" Axel shouted, swinging both Chakrams up, massive rings of flames raging around them, only for Tyler, already charging, to slide under them, then slide back to his feet.

The chakrams arced up behind Tyler as Axel hurled a basketball-sized fireball at him. Tyler slashed the fireball, dispersing it, then shoved a hand at him, sending an ice spike at him before turning profile, then two chakrams flashing down in front of him and behind him. As they did, he pushed off the ground with his toes, using magic to launch himself, escaping the explosion as the chakrams hit the ground. He flipped as they both spun along the ground, Axel controlling them telepathically with his arms, making them tear a complete circle into the ground around them before flames exploded a hundred feet into the air around them, forming a very small area for them to fight in. Tyler flipped, landing on his feet as Axel leapt backward into the flames. Then, the chakrams sped out of the flames. Tyler narrowed his eyes, deflecting them back into the flames, only for them to almost instantly fly back out, traveling in curved arcs and making it nearly hard for him to guess their trajectory, and both were moving in blurred streaks, making it hard for him to fend them off. Finally, one that was corkscrewing through the air slipped past his keyblade and he encased himself in a barrier, grunting as it his chest, only to bounce into the flames before Axel leapt out of the flames behind him, holding both and with flames raging around them. He swung them down at Tyler's back and Tyler flipped, slipping between them, Axel's eyes widening, then placed his hand on Axel's shoulder, focusing as much magic as he could manage into his palm before casting his spell, a massive ice formation exploding into existence from below his hand. It completely encased Axel and extinguishing the flames, Tyler standing atop a spike at the top using a small spike on its side. Then, he dropped off the spike as the entire ice formation shattered, the Axel that had been inside dispersing in a short burst of flames, the real one breathing hard and standing in front of Tyler.

"You're strong," Axel said. "And you're not afraid at all. No hesitation. You're not like him at all."

"Who?" Tyler asked.

"My best friend, Roxas," Axel said. "He was strong, really strong, but he was also such a good person that he hesitated a lot if he was fighting people. Not like you. You don't hold back."

"You tried to kill someone important to me," Tyler said. "No matter who you are, or what you've done, that sealed your fate."

Axel sighed, shaking his head. "I see. That's fair." He sighed, straightening and reforming his chakrams, only for a portal made of darkness to form behind him and someone else in a black robe to step through, setting a hand on Axel's shoulder. Axel let his chakram fade into flames, which went out instantly and sighed.

"Well, looks like time's up," Axel said.

"Just like that?" Tyler asked.

"Sorry," Axel said. "I got another job to do instead. Catch ya later."

Tyler watched the pair walk into the portal before it disappeared, then sighed, letting his keyblade disappear as the others all cheered, then turned, catching Lightning as she threw her arms around him, Axel's barriers fading as well.

"That was amazing!" Lightning cheered. "You were incredible, Tyler!"

"Thank you," Tyler smiled. "But that was all thanks to you. If you hadn't trained me as hard as you did the last few days, I probably wouldn't have figured out my magic, or known to fight one handed to be able to use spells, let along be able to. And compared to fighting you, he was moving slow and telegraphing."

Lightning smiled. "That was all you, Tyler. You beat someone I couldn't."

Tyler smiled, eyes watering slightly. "I'm so sorry Lightning."

Lightning shook her head, kissing him, and he smiled, kissing her back instantly. "You saved me again."

Tyler laughed. "After I once again put you in danger." He rested his forehead against hers. "I love you."

"I love you too," Lightning smiled.

"If you two are done, we were trying to leave," Fang spoke up. "Or we could give you a few hours. I'm sure one more night wouldn't bankrupt us."

"It might," Oswald said. "This place is expensive."

"It's fine," Tyler laughed. "Let's go."

Oswald nodded and a blinding light enveloped them all before fading, leaving them all on the ship again.

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