Disclaimer: Kingdom Hearts belongs to Disney and Square Enix.

This chapter is dedicated to Faifruit/duokinneas. Thank you for all your support and encouragement! Your reviews always bring a smile to my face. Also, it highlights Namine and Kairi, which I know you've been looking forward to. 3

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Sora was panicking and he knew it. Between the shrieking, flailing creature that used its tiny palms to push away from the brunette and launch its body backwards with all its might and a tumult of mixed feelings inside, both his own and his other's, Sora could only cling for dear life to the baby. His foggy blue eyes squeezed shut as he clamped his arms around the tiny body that only screamed louder, terror, rage, and sadness permeating his cries and poisoning the once peaceful calm of the castle. Sora couldn't really think of anything clearly except for the mental image of little Axel succeeding in his escape attempts only to crack his skull sickeningly against the hard marble flooring.

Riku was, sadly, just as much at a loss as to how to handle this situation. He could only move closer to Sora and his fingers curled with the need to touch him, to comfort him, but he didn't know what would happen. Part of him realized what was happening - it wasn't Sora who was falling apart at the seams, but a nervous breakdown was bubbling over inside of him. Riku barely caught the King's exclamation as he rushed back into the room, which seemed to be echoing the cries from the hallway.

When Kairi's hand firmly grasped Sora's shoulder Riku was overbalanced by the most disturbing urge to roughly strike her away. His shock overpowered this frightening, animalistic idea as he realized that it really wasn't Kairi anymore. Her hair remained red, her appearance remained static, yet he knew Namine very well. This was not Kairi.

"Namine?" Sora exclaimed, and his voice was worryingly ragged with escalating breaths. Not-Kairi nodded quickly but she was in a greater hurry to move on to the matter at hand.

"Sora. Put Axel down. It's all right." To Riku's confusion, she knelt on the floor before Sora. His curiousity was appeased when a great amount of tension released from Sora's body and he bent to very carefully place the squalling infant onto the floor. Namine's arms quickly flew around him as he thrust his body backwards, still immersed in desperation. Axel, small limbs gangly for a baby and cheeks red and streaming from screaming, quickly stumbled into Namine's arms.

He shrieked, "NO!" Namine hissed as Kairi's fingers slowly began swelling with burns and pudgy feet smacked against the marble as Axel slumped against the wall and continue to weep miserably, still loud but now in that lingering manner which Kairi assured her needed to be waited out. So she crossed her legs and scooted nearer to the redhead, though not near enough to touch him. The small voice cried out, "No!" again, but he didn't shift his body further away.

-

Riku registered Namine coaxing the child in some absent corner of his mind, but right now all he could see was Sora, gasping for air and frowning deeply as he stumbles from a kneel into a sitting position, lifting a hand to hold his in pain.

For once Riku's enfolding arms could not provide the relief he'd hoped for. As his legs fold beneath the crook of Sora's knees the shorter boy looks up at him, eyes blurry with pain and flashing a paler blue every other moment.

"Riku. I can't..." Breathe. Think. See you clearly. Stay awake. "I'm..." Scared. Sorry (you're freaking out on the inside, aren't you?).

Riku had no idea why he was swallowing, for it seemed a pointless endeavor when all his organs had dropped into his knees. He smoothed the seams along Sora's sweaty brow and began massaging his temple soothingly. "Shh. It's gonna be all right." The words tasted like ash in his mouth. He was never sure about things the way Sora could be. But right now he had to pretend. "Close your eyes. We'll take care of things from here."

Sora reached up and turned Riku's hand into his own. "Keep it together... till I wake up, kay?"

Riku's smile was rather crooked. "Duh." But Sora's eyes were already shut. If Riku watched closely, he could see Roxas' thoughts, roiling beneath Sora's eyelids.

-

"Riku, may I have a potion for Kairi's hands, please?" He envied her for her calm demeanor, and wondered how much of it was a farce as he retrieved one and tossed it to her.

Only Sora knew that Riku had never stopped keeping them on him. When Riku had asked the inevitable 'what about you', Sora had only shrugged and replied: "I have you with me, right? No problem." And Riku had covered that promising mouth with his, more eloquent than his words could be.

"Thank you." Ever polite, Namine still downed the substance in one swig. Riku grinned. This efficiency and confidence was a side of her that Sora hadn't seen (though, of course, he didn't remember anything he'd seen), and Roxas had only glimpsed.

Now Namine moved closer to Axel, and paused as the tiny form shrank slightly. "Axel, I'm going to touch you, now. Okay?" Axel only continued to whimper.

Namine slowly lifted him into her lap, and when tiny fists lifted to rub his eyes and close himself up further, the girl embraced him tightly. "Shh. You're all right. It's Namine, I've got you now."

Slowly, Axel's hands fisted again, one around the fabric of the neckline of her shirt, and the other around a lock of coppery hair. Namine winced slightly and adjusted his grip further down the strand so that it didn't tug as Axel burried his wet face in the crook of her neck, hiccuping. "That's right, Axel. You're fine, now."

As she met Riku's eyes across the hall, they both laughed a tiny bit, the absurdity of their positions not lost on them. Namine watched as the humour quickly died in Riku's face, leaving it brittle with only the weight of uncertainty to hold it up.

"Riku, he'll be fine. Roxas lost control and couldn't keep himself separate for a while. Sora's mind just wasn't prepared for it."

Riku deflated with relief. Then, he remembered something: "Does Kairi know?"

Namine nodded and smiled reassuringly. "I've already explained it to her." As she turned her attention to patting Axel's back soothingly, there was a period of silence, and then a startled gasp.

It took a bit for him to tear his eyes away from Sora's sleeping face. "What?"

Namine stared at him. "I can feel his heartbeat."

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Sorry for the shortness! I'm going to try and make chapter 5 longer.

Anyways, thanks for reading! Hope you enjoyed it! ^^

Love,

Kelska