DarkFoxKit: Hello there, dear readers! Look at that; I'm doing another co-op story with Key2DestNE! And this time we're doing a story with his namesake~ Oh and Donfyre, have fun on your next AN with me. ;P

Key2DestNE: *waves, grinning* Hey, what's up everybody? If you couldn't tell by my name and Fox's obvious namedrop, this story is about Roxas. If you don't know who he is… Well, where have you been, frankly? Go play the games fully before you read this! And Donfyre is another co-author of her's, be sure to check out their stories too!

DarkFoxKit: Yes, it is sort of a requirement to see all the games- well, maybe not ALL of them, but the majority, like Birth By Sleep, Kingdom Hearts, Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days, Kingdom Hearts II, and… I think that's about it.

Key2DestNE: Right- at least know the plot of each of these games before you begin! Got it? Good? Great! Now then, this is only the prologue- and this will also be one of our shorter… co…stories… *trails off, staring at 20+ chapters* …FOOOX! I thought we said this would be SHORTER!

DarkFoxKit: *rolls eyes* I never said that, I just said it was shorter compared to our anime-long fanfictions! Anyway, wanna explain what this story is about or should I?

Key2DestNE: I'll have the honors, thank you~ *DarkFoxKit rolls eyes again* So basically, we were talking about Kingdom Hearts, and we couldn't help but think- what would happen if a certain Nobody met his look-alike?

DarkFoxKit: Ahem! That's Roxas and Ventus in case you couldn't tell. And before you have any misconceptions about those two; NO, they are NOT the same person in this story. In some fanfictions they are, but this is NOT one of them! We're trying to keep it as close to canon as possible.

Key2DestNE: …ANYWAYS, that's what this story's about- we even filled in a couple plotholes for those of you who are as nuts about the series as we are. Try to figure out what they are when they pop up, and you might get a web-cookie!

DarkFoxKit: And yes, we can tell this is a very long prologue. The chapters are pretty dang long themselves, but they are, hopefully, enjoyable to read. Now, shall we do the disclaimer and get on with the show?

Key2DestNE: Of course! *walks over to a huge button* It's too bad you had to fire our editor- he's usually the one who types this bit!

DarkFoxKit: *glares* We never hired any- okay, we don't own anything, we just made up the plot and put it in, there.

Kingdom Hearts

Birth By Sleep

Secret Story: Roxas's Story

Prologue: The Final Day

Roxas frowned as he came out from the alleyway that he called 'The Usual Spot'... His three best friends; Hayner, Pence and Olette just literally passed right through him as if he didn't exist, and they didn't see or talked to him. Troubled, Roxas looked around as if hoping for some answers.

Mysterious enemies, mysterious voices, mysterious girl, mysterious Keyblade, time stopping at random and now I'm a ghost? What other cliche things are going to happen to me this week? Roxas thought to himself as he suddenly found himself surrounded by those white things again.

Behind him, a man in a black coat with red spiky hair appeared in a dark portal. He sighed, speaking up. "Look at what it's come to, Roxas. I've been given these icky orders to destroy you… if you refuse to come back with me."

"But… we're… best friends, right?" Roxas asked him, sounding a little unsure but trying to sound convincing. Please, please let this work…

Axel frowned a bit, scratching the back of his neck. "Sure… but I'm not gettin' turned into a Dusk for-" He blinked, looking at Roxas in shock. "Wait a sec! You remember now!?"

Roxas gave a small nervous look before nodding. "Y… yeah."

Axel sighed in relief, giving Roxas a grin. "That's awesome! But, ya know- gotta make sure and all. So… er…" He frowned in thought, crossing his arms, before a lightbulb appeared. "What's our boss's name?" He grinned in excitement, looking at Roxas hopefully.

But this stumped the poor blond boy. Oh great, now I'm screwed… "... Uh… um…" Roxas stuttered but couldn't give an answer.

"..." Axel's grin quickly turned upside down as he groaned. "Ugh… can't believe this…" He glanced up at Roxas, seeing the boy quickly grab a stick and form the Keyblade. "Roxas… you don't have to do this…!" When the boy didn't give a response, he sighed, summoning his chakrams before beginning to swing them… and pausing mid-swing, frozen.

Roxas frowned in confusion when Axel suddenly stopped before standing up straight, realizing time had stopped around him again. Again? Then he heard someone else's voice in his head, giving him a command. Roxas! To the mansion! The time has come.

The Keyblade Wielder looked up to the evening sky and shouted, "HAYNER! PENCE! OLETTE!" He just wished for this to be a bad dream, he just wished that maybe his friends would hear his call and come and wake him up… But no, this was reality… and he's stuck in it. Roxas looked at the frozen Axel one more time before running off towards the marketplace that leads to the woods.

As reality unfroze around Axel, he blinked, seeing Roxas was suddenly gone, and he frowned a bit. "..." He sighed, dismissing his chakrams. "...So the Roxas that I knew is long gone…" He chuckled mirthlessly, shaking his head slowly. "Fine… I see how it is." He turned, beginning to walk down the alleyway.

Meanwhile, Roxas was being hounded by more of those weird white creatures, including some new and much more stronger and troublesome ones with these long and sharp dagger-like arms that would rapidly attack him. Thankfully, all his experience with the Struggle Tournament kept him alive as he hurried through the woods, hoping that he'll get his answers there.

As soon as Roxas arrived the gate, he saw a huge lock on it. Frowning, he tried to open it, but it was locked. "Oh come on! Don't call me and then lock me out!" Then a memory of Sora flashed into his mind, the kid holding out his Keyblade. "..." Roxas looked at the huge lock and at the huge key in his hand. "I wonder…" He jumped back a bit and pointed the Keyblade at the lock as those strange white creatures began popping up behind him. To his surprise, the Keyblade shot out a beam of light, instantly unlocking it. Without waiting for those creatures to attack him, Roxas hurried into the mansion, not seeing the man in a black coat coming up behind him.

Roxas opened the door, quickly closing it behind him. "I'm here!" he shouted, but got no answer. "... Where am I supposed to go?" he called out, but still no answer. Frowning, he decided to explore the place, maybe he'll find the one who called him there.

Those creatures were still attacking him, but Roxas managed to get rid of most of them as he entered a white room, seeing pictures that looked like they were drawn by a child. Still, he could tell they were of himself and that Sora kid from his dreams… One was a picture of him in a black coat, walking away from a dark city. "... Ugh!" he grabbed his head as a memory began invading his head.

*Memory Flashback*

I was walking away from the castle. I've had enough of it, no more secrets, no more hiding, no more mindlessly doing what the Organization wants, I want to get out of here and find my answers. I walked past Axel as he was leaning against the wall.

"... Your mind's made up?" he asked me as I stopped to answer.

"Why did the Keyblade choose me? I have to know." I told him, as if he didn't know already since we just had this arguement.

"You can't turn on the Organization!" Axel snapped.

*End of Memory Flashback*

Ugh… What… what was that? … Organization XIII… "They're a bad group…" Roxas said out loud, and his comment was answered by none other than Namine.

"Bad or good, I don't really know." Namine said, looking down. "They're desperately searching for something."

"And that is?" the boy asked her, giving a small frown.

"Kingdom Hearts." she answered almost instantly, and Roxas frowned at that.

The blond sighed, sitting down in the chair across from her. "Namine… Please, just tell me who this Sora is and why am I connected to him… nothing else matters anymore." he said sadly, having a strong feeling he may die soon.

"You are-" Namine began to say, but she suddenly began disappearing in data.

"N-Namine?" Roxas frowned in concern and confusion and suddenly, the man from the Struggle Tournament appeared before him.

"No amount of knowledge has the power to help you escape your fate." the man said to him as if looking down at him like some kind of diseased dog.

Roxas glared, growling in fury, "Maybe not, but even so, I want to know, I have the right to know!"

The man spoke up, immediately letting his obvious dislike known towards Roxas. "A Nobody doesn't have the right to know, nor does it have the right to be."

"But what is a Nobody?!" the blond boy demanded, losing his patience with this man.

The man didn't answer him, instead that guy in the black coat suddenly appeared before them, "DiZ! We're out of time, too many Nobodies!"

Roxas was about to demand what was going on when Namine suddenly came out of a black portal thing, and she seemed frantic. "Roxas! Nobodies like us are only half a person… But you won't disappear, you'll be whole!"

Roxas's eyes widen and he paled, hearing only half what she said. "I-I'll… disappear?"

"No more further outbursts!" DiZ snapped as he approached Namine.

The girl in white tried to explain, shouting, "No! You won't disappear! You'll-" DiZ grabbed her and tried to shut her mouth.

"Wait!" Roxas yelled, trying to stand up in the chair.

Namine continued to struggle, hoping to tell Roxas her message before DiZ takes her away, "Roxas! We will meet again! I may not know it's you and you may not know it's me, but we will meet again, someday soon, I promise!"

"No!" Roxas yelled as she was pulled into that dark portal with DiZ and the other guy in the black coat disappeared. "Wait! NAMINE!" But to his shock, it was too late… she was gone and he was left alone.

Not sure what else to do, Roxas picked up a crayon, almost as if he should. Feeling a tug towards the other direction, Roxas headed for the other room.

Roxas sighed, walking through the main area of the mansion and distractedly knocking aside the white creatures still chasing him. Finally, he reached the other room- the library. There was a table in the middle of the room, and to his surprise, a big drawing was on it. …Wait… this was…! He pulled out the crayon he had picked up, beginning to draw 3 symbols in the empty circles.

When he was done, the table began glowing, and he quickly jumped back, barely dodging a giant hole in the ground that appeared. "Whoa!" He slowly walked up to the edge, noticing a new kind of style unlike the rest of the mansion- this was white, more technology-based… and he kept feeling the tug grow as he walked down the stairs on the side of the hole.

Soon, he found all these monitors in the basement… For such an old mansion, it hides such advanced technology. It was almost like it could create an entire digital world… Suddenly Roxas's head began pounding in agony again, and he cried out in agony as he grabbed his head.

*Memory Flashback*

"If you get on their bad side then they'll destroy you!" Axel snapped at me, but I only shrugged.

"No one will miss me." I said with a sad smile. "We're Nobodies… we don't have hearts, no matter how much we want it…" I continued walking forward.

"That's not true! … I would…" I heard him said sadly and I felt genuine hurt… or what I thought was genuine. I shook my head, now's not the time.

Nobodies are beings who lost their hearts to the Heartless… The stronger the person's will, the stronger their Nobodies are. A really strong willed person's Nobody will be human and adopting their appearance from their original selves.

I was born in Twilight Town, but I was completely blank… I had no memories of my human self, everything was nothing… I was nothing more than a statue. That's when Xemnas found me.

"Do you want to have purpose?" I remembered him asking me. I was given… a name…

"Roxas…" I said as I saw the letters of a name he put in front of me. And I was given a black coat…

"A new you!" Xemnas said with a smile and I joined Organization XIII. My purpose? Because I could wield the Keyblade, I was to destroy as many Heartless as possible in order to collect the hearts and build Kingdom Hearts that would grant us Nobodies hearts.

I was frustrated… after a year working with the Organization, I still had no answers to who I am or why only I could wield the Keyblade! There was… another reason, a much stronger reason, but I cannot remember what that reason was and it makes me feel even angrier and sadder.

I just knew I have gained another Keyblade, wielding two; Oblivion and Oathkeeper. I had two goals in mind; destroy Kingdom Hearts Xemnas created and find Sora. Everything seems to be connected to Sora, so that means… when I find him I'll find my answers!

I wasn't able to reach the castle because I was soon intercepted by the impostor, but I learned his name is Riku. Riku was wearing a blindfold yet was able to see everything clearly. I ran up to the building he was on top of and threw Oblivion at him… I was surrounded by Neo Shadow Heartless and I needed someone's help to get rid of them.

After we destroyed them all, we immediately turned on each other. I was angry, I was furious, this enemy before me… he did something, I know he did, something that made me drown in sorrow and anger, despite having no heart, it sure felt real to me and I hated it!

"Why are you here!?" I demanded from him.

"I came to get the rest of Sora's memories back." he answered calmly and this only angered me more.

"Sora!? Enough about Sora! I'm going to destroy Kingdom Hearts, then everything can go back to the way it was! I can have ice cream again with her!" I shouted, knowing full well I was in denial but I didn't care.

Riku just gave me a calm grunt, "'Her' huh? You mean _? It's a struggle just to remember her name."

"Just get out of my way! I'll free the hearts and find Sora, then I can get the answers I want!" I snapped at him, the hood of my coat keeping my face from view, but with that blindfold on him I don't think it matters.

"I won't let you do something so reckless, I need you alive to help wake up my friend." Riku said as he charged at me with the Oblivion I threw at him earlier.

I managed to get Riku down and he shouted at me, "Why!? Why do you wield the Keyblade!?"

This served to anger me more, because that's exactly what I wanted to know! He knew why, he's only saying that to spite me! "SHUT UP!" I lunged at him, but he took this opportunity in my fit of rage to catch me off guard and hit me hard with Oblivion and I ended up on the ground with my hood off, revealing my face, not that it matters though.

Lying there, I was exhausted, but I wasn't out yet. I closed my eyes and decided to feign unconsciousness. I waited as I heard him approaching me. I didn't so much as flinch when I heard him stabbing Oblivion to the floor next to my head. It wasn't until I was sure he was close to me did I open my eyes again and, weakly, sat up, groaning, grabbing Oblivion before swinging at him, but he was fast… Riku managed to dodge by jumping back.

I glared as I stood up and charged at him. Riku shot a dark energy ball at me, but I managed to deflect it with my Keyblade and swung at him again, but like before, Riku jumped away from me. I was getting impatient with his constant jumping around. "Why don't you quit!?"

Riku seemed to be studying me for a moment, though it's hard to tell with that blindfold on his eyes, then he spoke, "Come on, Sora! I thought you were stronger than that!"

I blinked, suddenly feeling more competitive than angry at this, "Huh? Get real! Look at which one of us is winning!" but after I said that, I found it strange that just came out of my mouth. "Eh?"

However, Riku found it more as a confirmation than an oddity, "So it's true… you really are his Nobody. I guess DiZ was right."

By now I have lost my patience and my temper, shaking my hand and bailing it up into a fist, I shouted, "What are you TALKING ABOUT!? I AM ME! Nobody else!" I summoned Oathkeeper in my other hand in anger and charged at him in blinding speed. I jumped and he dodged my first swing, but my second managed to not only cut through his shield but slashed his arm!

"Gah!" Riku grunted in pain as he fell on his knees and grabbing his cut arm.

I glared, wishing he would just either die or get out of my way already! "How many times do I have to beat you!?"

"Alright… I didn't want to have to do this… but you leave me no choice. It's time I stop holding back the darkness." Riku said as he took off his blindfold.

I frowned in confusion, but a sinking feeling came in. "What?"

"The darkness that I have locked away in my heart…" Riku finished as he began screaming loudly and he was covered in darkness! I braced myself to whatever was happening, but right before my eyes he transformed into someone who looked like Xemnas with a big black Heartless creature behind him.

I was so caught off guard by this that I didn't have time to react when the transformed Riku suddenly teleported in front of me and that black Heartless behind him grabbed me! I groaned as I struggled to get out of the iron grip, but it was no use… I was already tired, injured and exhausted from our previous fight and the Heartless was squeezing and lifting me from the ground… eventually I couldn't take it anymore and passed out, dropping my Oathkeeper and Oblivion.

"I have accepted it." I heard him say in a much deeper voice, despite being unconscious.

I don't know how, but despite being unconconscious, I was able to hear DiZ and Riku's conversation.

"DiZ… he could feel Sora." Riku said.

"Oh? He told you how he felt, did he? Impossible. A Nobody cannot feel anything, it's all just a ruse." I heard DiZ say as if Riku just told him a joke.

"Maybe if he were to have met Sora, things would be different." I heard Riku say.

I don't know how, but once again I heard them speaking to each other despite being unconscious.

"Are you sure about this?" Riku asked him.

"We cannot revive Sora until Namine finishes piecing together his memories. Once she does, we can have Roxas connect with Sora and awaken him. Until then, we will delete his old memories and implant new ones, he'll live out the last of his days as a happy, ordinary boy in a virtual town. He should be thankful I'm letting him live in a peaceful dream." DiZ explained.

"Poor thing…" I couldn't tell if Riku was being sincere or not.

"It's the fate of a Nobody." DiZ spoke like it was no big deal… and… I was sent to a virtual Twilight Town.

*End of Memory Flashback*

After regaining all of his lost memories during his time as a Nobody, Roxas panted, but glared as pure anger and rage began flooding through him. Glaring heatedly at the monitors, even though they were only replicated computer data, they're what brought him to this happy prison.

Roxas summoned his Keyblade and began wrecking the entire system in anger. "IT WAS ALL A LIE! NONE OF IT WAS REAL!" he screamed as tears fell from his eyes. "I WAS NEVER MEANT TO EXIST TO BEGIN WITH!" Whenever he had missions in Twilight Town, he remembered seeing three friends, Hayner, Pence and Olette, hanging out all the time together. They laughed and seem to live simple lives… Roxas was jealous of them and had wished, more than anything, to be a part of their happy group… but… Roxas destroyed the last monitor as he finally began calming down a little bit. "It was all just a dream…"

Shaking his head, he looked at what he had just done… the monitors were smoking and beyond repair, but he didn't care. Roxas felt the tugging even stronger than ever after calming down. Walking through, he came to a room where he was attacked, yet again by those creatu- no, they were Nobodies, like he was. Dusks and Assassins. Axel was nearby.

Roxas easily took care of these Nobodies- after regaining his memories, his fighting skills also came back. Axel himself walked by, his arms crossed. "Simply amazing, Roxas."

"Axel." Roxas spoke the name with familiarity instead of uneasiness or sounding unsure.

Axel knew that Roxas finally remembered, but… "You really do remember me this time. I'M SO FLATTERED!" He suddenly summoned walls of fire around them, keeping Roxas from getting away. "But you're too late!"

Roxas, knowing what he had to do even if he didn't want to do it, summoned Oathkeeper and Oblivion to his side, getting ready to battle with his best and only friend in his short life.

Axel was shocked at seeing not one but… "Two!?" But he didn't question it for long as he summoned his own fiery chakrams to fight, smiling sadistically. "C'mere, I'll make it all stop! BURN BABY!"

He tossed his chakrams into the floor, causing everything to turn into magma. Roxas winced, his feet burning from the floor burning through his shoes, but he didn't let Axel do this for long- he charged the redhead, his Keyblades clashing with Axel's chakrams before diving at the red headed Nobody, tackling him to the floor and forcing the magma to disappear.

With Axel stunned, this gave Roxas the chance to combo his old friend- he swung his two Keyblades in a frenzy, almost giving Axel no time to react. However, Axel managed to escape from Roxas's deadly combos and into the walls of fire, making it impossible for Roxas to get to him without being burned into a fried Roxas on a stick.

Axel kept rushing through at Roxas, coming from end of the wall of fire to another, trying to keep Roxas from reacting or getting to him. Eventually, Roxas managed to throw a Keyblade at Axel, stunning him long enough to jump and somersault into the air, comboing Axel even more.

Axel quickly recovered, though, tossing his chakrams into the floor as he cried out as loud as he could, "BURN, BABY!" Roxas winced, the floor becoming magma again- but he quickly began swinging at the man once more, keeping the pressure on even as his feet turned crispy.

Roxas refused to give up though, and Axel threw his chakrams at Roxas, knocking the Keyblade Wielder back for a loop. Roxas grunted in pain, the magma and fire around him was beginning to take it's toll. Glaring, Roxas lunged himself at Axel for one more assault; he stabbed Axel's chest and caused the wall of fire to subside and the magma to fade. Roxas stopped after that though, not wanting to finish off his only real friend, and dismissed his two Keyblades.

Axel panted as he was on his knees, before giving Roxas a weak grin. "... Let's… meet again… in the next life."

Roxas nodded, saying softly, "Yeah… I'll be waiting."

Axel chuckled, shaking his head weakly. "Silly Roxas… Just because you have a next life…" And with that, he formed a dark portal around him and disappeared, leaving- to Roxas's surprise- a strange hole in the ground.

"Eh?" Blinking and curious, Roxas walked over to the hole, deciding to ignore the powerful tugging coming from the other side of the door for now. Roxas looked down the hole, not being able to see anything but darkness. "... That's weird… I thought this was the basement, how could-" The hole suddenly expanded unexpectedly and Roxas fell right in! "WHOOOOOAAAAA!" He fell right through space and time, everything warping around him.

Key2DestNE: *is pouting* I still wanted to do the disclaimer- that's what the button was for…

DarkFoxKit: Maybe next chapter then. Anyway, readers, for those of you who read the manga version of Kingdom Hearts II, you may notice that the memory part was taken from those scenes, and some parts were the extended version from 358/2 Days cutscene with Roxas and Riku.

Key2DestNE: And yes, this one chapter isn't too different from the actual game, but honestly, it's the PROLOGUE- it'll be a lot more different in the upcoming chapters, trust us!

DarkFoxKit: Yes! So if I hear someone bellyaching about all that 'it's just like the game!' crap, weeeeeell let's just say that you and someone else may end up regretting it~ There IS a reason why it's following the game so closely: We. Are. Keeping. It. As. Close. To. The. Canon. As. Much. As. Possible.

Key2DestNE: … *pales* Please, please, PLEASE don't bellyache! I'd rather NOT regret it, thank you very much!

DarkFoxKit: So anyways, starting next chapter, the real chapter, Roxas will end up going 11 years into the past, and guess where he ends up and whom he gets to meet~ I hope you guys are excited!

Key2DestNE: Heh- trust me, if you're not excited now, you will be! We put a lotta work into this, so we hope you enjoy this chapter, and we'll get back to uploading other stories when we're a decent part of the way through!

DarkFoxKit: Yeah… my other stories were kind of on unspoken hiatus until we were done with this one. But it's done now, and we can finally relax a bit.

Key2DestNE: *grumbles* With some of our fans- *cough* the more impatient ones- *cough* complaining about how long it takes for chapters to get uploaded, I doubt it…

DarkFoxKit: … And this is why they need to learn that waiting for a good chapter rather than having them hurry to get a rushed one out has better results! A lot of fans understand this, but I guess we can't expect everyone to know or have the patience to care.

Key2DestNE: Yeah… Anyways, we'll meet you all next time this story's uploaded! Buh bye~ *twitches, giving a wide grin*

DarkFoxKit: …. Key…? Why are you twitching?

Key2DestNE: BECAUSE MY FANBOY'S ABOUT TO GO WILD! *begins bouncing off the walls!*

DarkFoxKit: Couldn't you have waited until we get to the later chapters!? *grabs camera* I'm sorry folks, he's going out of control… again. Please, have a nice day or night and review if you want to support us. *turns it off*