For a dead man, the cursing redhead in Chaos' arms certainly wriggled a lot.

He's alive, Vincent thought behind Chaos' gold eyes, pinning the swearing Nobody in one arm long enough to fire a trio of Demi-charged shots into the swarm of Organization 13. With a separate trio reserved for the one-eyed energy crossbow-wielder; from Riku's information, that was Xigbar, and the last thing Chaos needed was someone controlling gravity around them. Alive. If not whole.

Black cloaks scattered. Chaos snickered, and dove around the nearest heights and cliffs, putting as much visual clutter between them and their pursuers as possible.

We could portal away. But it seems they tracked Axel's last portal. So... no.

Axel. He'd had the name in front of him for a year, from Riku's notes on the Org. He'd had the description; redhead, tall and thin, the Flurry of Dancing Flames. He'd had all of that. And he hadn't known-

Whatever Lea had become, it seemed he still recalled the fluidity of Tai Chi. The Nobody slipped out of Chaos' hold like a greased eel, dropping to the ground with a hiss that meant injured ribs at the very least.

Ribs Axel proceeded to ignore entirely, sprinting to get the nearest big boulder between him and a very large, very amused demon.

At least he still has some survival instincts left, Chaos commented wryly, retreating into Vincent's mind. Though not releasing their form; slippery as Axel was, they might need the mobility of wings. I was beginning to wonder.

So was I, Vincent admitted, blinking to adjust his vision to the haze of gold. Stepping out of the shadows to warn Sora of Xemnas' plan... to taunt him, yes, but also to warn him, when Axel knew better than anyone the powers that pursued him...

Would Lea have done any less?

"Thanks," came breathlessly from behind thick stone. "I've got no beef with you, you've got none with me, I'll get out of here and everybody can go home happy-"

"They tracked your last Dark portal," Vincent said. It was always strange to hear Chaos' haunted voice speaking his own words. "Wait. Until they've had a chance to lose your trail."

"...Why?"

Wary as Lea had been the first day they'd met. Or worse. It's been ten years. He has no more reason to believe I'm alive than I did him. Be patient. "Radiant Garden is my territory," Vincent answered. It was, after all, the truth. Just not all of it. "Xemnas is not welcome here."

"Yeah? What about the rest of the Org?"

Wary as a kitsune in a nest of spider-folk, Vincent thought. And smiled a little at himself. What did it say about him when that was the first image that came to mind? Ten years, indeed. "The rest of the Organization didn't help Sora."

"Like anything I do for that kid is help."

Vincent almost flinched from the bitterness. Yen Sid had said Nobodies had no emotions. That without a Heart, they didn't truly exist.

But I can feel him.

It was faint; fainter than even his sense of Blackfire, when his Team was back at the spaceport with Aeris and Yuffie, while Axel was right here.

Yet weak as that flurry of emotions was, it was real.

Hate. Hope. Longing. Pain. Fear.

But the strongest of them all was grief.

Why is he not screaming at the heavens?

And who could a Nobody be grieving? They belonged to no World, had no one-

Vincent grimaced, Riku's plan suddenly taking on new and painfully personal meaning. "Roxas."

A thump, that had to be a gloved fist striking stone. "What do you know about him?" What do you know about anything? that tone challenged.

"I know that you were reported to work together in the Organization, pushing Worlds to Fall," Vincent said bluntly. "I know that Roxas left-"

"He was kidnapped!" A crackle; fire splashing against stone. "Riku. It was Riku who told you. Had to be. Little Dark-Hearted sneak of a Keybearer... but hey, at least he's got a Heart. And that's what matters, isn't it? We're not real. We don't matter. Just ask Sora."

Axel lies, Riku had told Vincent. And when he's not lying, he twists the truth. Remember: except for Naminé, he's the only Nobody who made it out of Castle Oblivion. He set it up that way.

Saïx is Xemnas' enforcer. Axel is his assassin.

All of which was probably true. Yet Riku himself would admit, there was always another side to a story.

Especially with Lea.

"So." The crackle of flames ceased. "We're the bad guys. Doesn't matter if Sora snuffs out Roxas like a candle." A dark, rolling chuckle. "So when are you coming around this rock?"

I think that would be a very bad idea, Vincent decided. Grief and rage had always made Lea careless of his own life. From the wild mix of need to flee and need to kill hitting him from behind that boulder - Axel wasn't that different. "I didn't save you just to kill you."

"No? Shame." Soft footsteps, as if the Nobody couldn't help but pace, injured or not. "Guess I owe you one. And I always pay up."

Vincent cleared his throat. "That's not-"

"Don't close with Xemnas."

Vincent shut up. That was serious.

"Don't. Ever. You got lucky this time. You got in, you got out, he didn't see you coming. Next time, he will. You were close enough. He knows what your mind feels like."

Even under Chaos' mask, Vincent felt his hair prickle. "He senses minds?"

"Reads 'em, too. If he's close enough. Hit him from a distance. Hit him hard. And then run." Axel drew in a sharp breath, hissed. "Even a demon doesn't want to see what life's like on my side of the street."

That made even Chaos uneasy. "Xemnas can create Nobodies?" Vincent asked sharply.

"Ooo yeah. Easy." Axel's voice was half a laugh, half a breath from sobbing. "His element's Void. Nothing. I've seen him backhand a guy right into a Dusk. Just like that." Footsteps stopped, and there was a whisper of leather; Vincent could all but see Axel leaning against stone. "Might be more decent to just kill the guys, you know? No Heart. No memories. Just knowing you're not you anymore. And you'd do anything just to feel again. If that means feeling people's blood over your claws..." Axel snarled under his breath; words Vincent recognized with a shock as straight from Agrabah's back alleys. "I'm not going out that way."

Pain. And the determination to fight on past the pain. "There are potion sellers near the spaceport," Vincent offered. "I've heard some of them don't ask questions."

Hope. A chill of anticipated betrayal. Desperation. "Why?"

"You remind me of someone I knew," Vincent stated. "An anthropologist. From a place called Stargate Command."

"Poor bastard," Axel said wryly. "What world's that?"

Fanged jaw dropped, Vincent shook his head. No reaction. No emotion, outside of a faint curiosity. Something is wrong here. "It was lost. Many years ago."

"...Sorry."

And Axel meant it. Even if it was only a faint, wistful regret.

Which was wrong, wrong. Lea should remember what had happened. He knew Lea. Even if it weren't his fault, he would still blame himself.

He's not Lea.

Which was exactly what Riku and Yen Sid would have told him. Riku regretfully, Yen Sid with a dark scowl and a sermon on how Nobodies were a flaw in the fabric of the universe, abominations that should never exist.

We're fortunate he's never met Red Cloak, Chaos mused. That would be... awkward.

That was an understatement. From all the Restoration Committee had been able to discover, it was the balance of Vincent's three forms that allowed him to host Chaos in the first place. Human, Heartless, and Nobody; he was all of them, yet not wholly any of them.

Pull one from our circle, and I might be forced free of you, the dark guardian of the Multiverse agreed. And you would no longer be whole. I would miss that. I would miss you.

Which was as sentimental as the demon ever got. Vincent drew a breath, and nodded. He's not Lea. But he's still one of my team.

Riku hadn't been able to find out what Xemnas' power was. If Axel was telling the truth, and Vincent had a sickening feeling he was...

He's just saved our lives.

Leon had not been amused by the Organization appearing on Radiant Garden's own walls. He'd planned to make that point to Xemnas, the next time the Nobody appeared. Personally.

Leon as a Nobody. Vincent's heart trembled at the thought.

"Kind of quiet over there," Axel said dryly. "Demon cat got your tongue?"

Vincent drew a breath, and frowned at the scent of fresh blood. Eyed the hand he'd held Axel with, registering the tacky feeling of drying blood. "You're bleeding."

"Yeah," Axel drawled. "Kind of noticed that-"

It was weak. Less than practiced. Definitely one of Yuffie's spells; Vincent could taste that in the hope and worry laced into where are you?

"K'so!" There was a snap of sparking flames-

Vincent snapped his hand shut, just before fire blazed everywhere Axel's blood had touched.

A whoosh of Darkness, and Axel's feelings vanished.

...Damn it.

I'm surprised he stayed that long, Chaos commented. He must have felt safe with us. A wry turn of thought. Or he needed to catch his breath. Deep within, a snarl. They're hunting him.

Vincent nodded. Axel had felt that probe of location magic. Felt it, and flinched away as an ordinary man would from a white-hot iron. And taken one of the most effective measures to cover his trail possible; fire purified, rendering his blood useless for any spell. "He feels safer with a demon than a human."

Are you surprised? He knows he isn't human. Chaos unfolded their hand. He didn't quite get all of it.

Vincent stared at the dried crust of blood on his palm. Closed his fingers again. "Merlin?"

Merlin, Chaos confirmed, as they took to the skies. But not Yen Sid.

No, Vincent agreed. I want answers.

"How curious," Merlin murmured under his breath, making yet another note on a growing scroll. "How amazing! Now, I wonder if-"

"Can't you be amazed at a more reasonable hour?" Shuffling out of the hollow log Yuffie had installed up in the rafters, Archimedes fluffed out his feathers, and slicked them back down again. "We're not in Traverse Town anymore, as you well know. We have a proper day and night now, with proper times for some of us to be asleep."

Merlin smiled through his beard, properly chastised. "I suppose that was one too many explosions, old owl. But we'll have good news for Vincent. Good news!"

"Hmm. Well, that might be worth getting woken up for after all." The massive owl flew down to perch on a chair. Though not too near the lab bench and its many multicolored fires, bubbling beakers, and the odd condensation coil or two. "What sort of good news?"

"Patience, old friend. Vincent should be here right about..."

The front door creaked open. "You scoundrel!" Aeris was giggling as she walked in with Vincent, Blackfire crackling on her shoulder and Keys a quiet shadow between them. Scathach, Merlin knew, would already be perched over the door; it was the Gargoyle's favorite spot, when she wasn't sneaking down at night to listen as he read treatises on the theory of magic. "I knew you were hiding something since the Great Maw!"

"Hmm." Vincent didn't deny anything, carefully shutting the door behind them. "Will you be able to handle your new guest?"

"She's actually very sweet," Aeris admitted. "Though she did look a little worried when... Merlin!" Aeris beamed at him. "Guess who's staying with us?"

Oh, dear. "Did you invite Sephiroth to tea, young lady, or merely convince Maleficent to wear something other than black and purple?" Merlin inquired.

"Oh, that would be fun." Aeris smiled. "It's Naminé."

"Na - Naminé?" Merlin sputtered. Surely not!

"The little Nobody girl who helped Sora?" Archimedes arched a feathered brow. "How in the Worlds did she get here?"

"Axel brought her." Aeris cast an amused look Vincent's way. "And you said he didn't know when to trust people. Although he did kind of eep when I smiled at him..."

From the carefully bland look on Vincent's face, the sniper thought eep was a perfectly reasonable reaction to being smiled at. Especially by Aeris in a playful mood.

"Who-hoo-hoo, I'll bet he did!" Archimedes chuckled, wings pressed to his breastbone. "He lost his Heart, not his mind!"

"It seems to have been a bit more than that." Merlin beckoned to a few chairs as he picked up his scroll. "You'll want to be sitting down. Oh, it's not all bad news! Not even most of it. But it is rather odd." He frowned. "And given we can reasonably pin most of it on Xemnas, I rather think we've been underestimating our enemy. That never ends well." Letting a fluffy armchair sweep him up, Merlin rested the scroll on his lap and rubbed his hands together. "First! Yes. Axel is Lea's Nobody."

Vincent seemed to sink into the cushions. "You're certain?"

"Young man, I've been doing this for quite a few centuries," Merlin reminded him. "If you ever had to keep track of the Pendragon lineage - well, that's neither here nor there. Yes, I'm sure. Blackfire resonates with it." Merlin nodded toward the black flames, which were peering at the workbench as if he wanted to leap there and eat the samples. "He knows his other half when he senses it."

Vincent flinched. "If I'd had my Team with me-"

Merlin raised a stern finger. "Stop that this instant, young man. If you had, you might have ended up with a nasty case of mutual suicide."

"Lea wouldn't-"

"Lea is in quite bad shape at the moment," Merlin stated. "Blackfire clings to those he cares about, and currently Axel is rightfully afraid for his own survival if anything so much as twitches near him. He's fleeing a man who can use Void. If he stands a chance at life, he'll cast first and ask questions later. Xemnas won't give him time to do anything else." He took off his glasses to polish them, though the lenses' enchantments ensured they rarely needed it. Best to give the young shape-shifter a chance to compose himself. "I dare say that's the one thing that makes me believe he was telling you the truth. Few enough of those with mystical training have any idea what Void is. Axel shows signs of direct exposure." Merlin placed his glasses back on his nose. "Specifically, someone used it with all the grand subtlety of a sledgehammer several years ago to create the effects of amnesia."

"An amnesia spell?" Vincent leaned forward, intent. "He really doesn't remember."

"I'm surprised Axel can even walk," Merlin said gravely. "And no, not an amnesia spell. That would be relatively simple to undo. Void isn't like the other elements. It's nothingness. Neither Dark nor Light, and highly resistant to interference by either. An ordinary amnesia spell would hide memories, or reshape them. This obliterated memories." He paused, deliberately. "Almost."

Vincent was scarcely breathing. Aeris put her hand near his, close enough he could feel the warmth of her skin. "Lea's very stubborn, isn't he?"

"And he apparently had some knowledge of how memory truly works," Merlin agreed. "Given the level of magical instruction on your original world, he must have been working half on instinct. I can only imagine how determined he must have been, to concentrate even as he felt his memories disintegrating..."

Gripping the chair arm, Vincent's knuckles were pale.

Not helping, old man, Merlin chided himself. "In essence, there are many different kinds of memory. Whatever Xemnas wanted Axel for, Lea must have realized Xemnas wanted him alive. And that gave him the chance to protect something, if not all of himself."

Red eyes stared at him, unblinking. Archimedes cleared his throat. "Details, Merlin."

"Er," Merlin fumbled for the right words. "Well. Yes, you see-"

"Body memory," Aeris said suddenly. "If you're alive - you have to remember to breathe."

"Correct!" Merlin smiled at her. "Yes. Even Nobodies apparently need air. If Xemnas wanted anything more than an empty shell, he had to leave the majority of physical memory intact."

Vincent's grip on the cushions eased a bit; the chair sighed in relief. "The Flurry of Dancing Flames."

"Yes, quite," Merlin said with satisfaction.

Archimedes traded a wry look with Aeris. "More details, Merlin."

"Axel remembers the way to slip holds from Tai Chi," Vincent stated. "A martial art from our world. It's often compared to a dance."

"It's likely he remembers many things linked to motion," Merlin agreed. "Now, these wouldn't be active memories, no. But they are a link to who he was before the Void struck. And Blackfire is another."

Pink ribbon-tie unraveling again, the Heartless peered at them from behind mini-sunglasses.

"Blackfire's always been weaker than a Heartless should be." Aeris leaned toward him, intent. "Do you think you know why?"

"I suspect so, yes," Merlin nodded. "Lea was caught in the same spell that fused Vincent's halves back together. It is very possible his Nobody and Heartless are still linked in a way most simply can't be."

"They are." Vincent barely breathed the words. "When I was very close to Axel... I could feel him."

Interesting. "To make a very technical explanation short - I did mention a sledgehammer, didn't I?" Merlin asked, eyes twinkling at Archimedes.

"Yes, you did," the owl sighed, all too familiar with how Merlin's mind could grasshopper between a future he'd seen and what he'd actually done. "Would you mind explaining the sledgehammer?"

"Ah! Easily done." Merlin tried not to chuckle too loudly as everyone else - even Keys - braced themselves. "Picture one of Cid's jelly sandwiches in a bag." He raised a fist, then tapped it with his free fingers. "What happens if a sledgehammer comes down on one side of it?"

"The bread gets flattened... but the jelly squishes away." Aeris' eyes were bright. "Oh!"

"Ah. But now it gets a bit complicated," Merlin allowed. "If you recall what young Riku told us about chains of memories... now, put Lea's chain in that bag." He clapped his hands together. "The chain would be shattered. Many of the links would still be intact, yes; but they'd be squished away, all higgledy-piggledy, with nothing to tie them together. Even if Axel could reach them - and it's possible he can - they would not be links in his chain." Merlin regarded the sniper with compassion. "Even if he knew your face, young man, he might not be able to realize why."

Vincent held very still. "But you do believe Blackfire holds Lea's memories."

"A Heartless is raw emotion, and very little else. He probably can't use them," Merlin nodded. "And he may not have all of them. Void is... well. It's meant to destroy, in a way even Fire can never do. Fire leaves smoke and ash behind; the potential for new life, just as we see the phoenix embody. Void leaves nothing."

Vincent frowned. "It sounds like a black hole."

"On the physical level, yes," Merlin agreed. "There are somewhat different effects on the mystical scale. A black hole in one universe can create an entirely new universe elsewhere..."

He's using you to destroy the Heartless, Axel had told Sora. That's his big master plan.

The Keyblade was meant to free Hearts and restore Worlds. If those Hearts were not freed, but gathered by one with the power of Void...

"I know that look," Archimedes said warily, feathers rising on the back of his neck. "That's never a good look."

"Excuse me a moment," Merlin said soberly, rising to sketch a quick outline of his thought to Yen Sid. Folded it into a paper airplane, and threw it to fly up the chimney. "It's a very theoretical possibility, and Yen Sid is far more knowledgeable of Keyblades than I am. Suffice it to say, I think I'm becoming a bit fond of your fiery friend. He may have stumbled on just what we need to keep the Multiverse in one piece."

Which made the wizard smile to himself, even though he knew Vincent would catch it. "What?" the sniper asked, tense.

"Some of my tests brought conflicting results," Merlin answered, bringing out his pipe. "Or rather, results that should be mutually impossible, given what we think we know about Nobodies. I believe I'm looking forward to poking about in Axel's past almost as much as you are." He raised a cautionary finger. "Mind, we'll have to scry very, very carefully. Coming anywhere close to a time Axel was near Xemnas would put us all in unacceptable danger."

"Even you?" Aeris looked skeptical.

"Yes, even me," Merlin agreed, with no trace of false modesty. "Void is incredibly dangerous. Sane wizards don't touch it, not even with Cold Iron tongs. And sometimes mind-readers can detect a scrying spell. If Xemnas truly is reading minds, which - hmm, we'll get to that later. Suffice it to say there may be quite another explanation. Unfortunately, that one might be more hazardous for us, not less. Let's not take foolish chances." Puffing his pipe alight, he pointed the stem at Vincent. "Do you know of anything we might aim for?"

"Yes." Dark hair shaded crimson eyes. "Roxas left Organization 13. Riku said he did it deliberately. Axel claims he was kidnapped."

"Hmm. And you want to know how much of whose story to believe," Merlin said gravely. "Wise. Well, let's see..." Drawing in a warm breath of tobacco, he blew out a shimmering smoke ring, that expanded...

Opening a window into a dark city of glass skyscrapers and rain, and a blue-eyed blond in Organization black striding down a wide street.

You had to look twice to catch the blaze of red hair as Axel slouched against the pillar of a building. "Your mind's made up?"

Roxas stopped. Turned slightly, reluctant. "Why did the Keyblade choose me? I have to know."

It broke Axel's stillness; he shoved himself away from the pillar, green eyes blazing, fists clenched. "You can't turn on the Organization! You get on their bad side, and they'll destroy you!"

Roxas looked almost amused. "No one would miss me."

Without so much as a shrug, he stalked away.

"That's not true!" Axel protested. Face falling with his voice; shoulders slumping, as he watched the blond vanish into the dark. "I would."

Merlin watched Vincent almost as much as the vision. Nearly a decade with the young man let him read the quiet flash of disappointment on that still face. "Now, now," he said firmly. "You know scrying isn't an exact science. This is when Roxas left. And you did say you haven't heard from Riku since he learned Sora's Nobody might be away from the Organization, true? He only seems to be talking to King Mickey, and His Majesty's keeping remarkably mum with the rest of us. Aeris, perhaps you could nudge it a bit?" Merlin nodded toward the smoke ring. "If our hot-blooded acquaintance claims Roxas was kidnapped, perhaps we might give him the benefit of the doubt, and see if there are reasons he might feel that way."

Vincent glanced sharply at him. Aeris was already reaching out, stroking smoke with a whisper. The night scene shimmered-

"Ah," Merlin said in satisfaction, as more dark streets unrolled before them. Axel stalked through the rain with his hood mostly up, one chakram already drawn to ward off the Shadows creeping through the night, pausing every now and then to sniff the air. "This should be a few days later."

"Can't believe he was serious," Axel was muttering. "If the Superior figures out he's not on a mission... grow a brain, Roxas. Don't do this to us-"

He stopped cold, on the outskirts of a plaza in front of a particularly tall skyscraper. "That smells like-!"

Second chakram blazing into life in his left hand, Axel bolted into the main plaza.

"There was a battle here," Vincent murmured.

Indeed, Merlin thought. Glass had shattered up the side of the skyscraper. Concrete and asphalt had been pitted and blasted by steel and magic. And Axel whirled from spot to fractured spot, obviously reading the battlefield as well as anyone on the Committee.

"Walks into the open so he can swat a whole bunch of Heartless at once," Axel muttered. "Roxas in a bad mood. Go figure. Stops here, and-" The redhead held his chakrams at his sides, crouching to mimic a shorter form. Looked up. "Memory's Skyscraper."

Darkness whisked through the vision; cleared to focus on the top of the skyscraper, where Axel stepped out of Darkness and took a breath. And snarled. "Riku."

The redhead hopped up onto the wall edging the roof, looking down where glass had shattered. "You went down, Roxas came up - clashed right there, hit the ground again-"

Another Dark blur, and Axel was stepping through torn asphalt. "You fought. You're good, kid. But Roxas is better. So how the hell-?"

Another breath, and the hood was flung back by a full-body shudder. "Ansem."

"Does he mean Ansem the Wise?" Aeris broke in, surprised.

Vincent shook his head. "Probably not. King Mickey hasn't told many people that Xehanort's Heartless was using another name."

"Ansem's magic, and Riku's," Axel was muttering. "Either Mr. I-Always-Deserved-the-Keyblade got possessed again, or..." Gloved hands tightened on his chakrams. "C'mon, Roxas. You're better than this. You're a damn Keybearer. Ansem couldn't take you down..."

The thin form was shaking. Shadows gathered, yellow eyes gleaming out of the dark. The swarm gathered, considered, moved-

"No you don't!"

Fire blazed around the Nobody, red and gold and licks of livid blue. Chakrams flew, slicing Shadows from the air as Axel lashed out with fireballs and blurred to catch rebounding red-and-silver. The tattoos made a furious mask of his snarl, as Axel slaughtered Heartless with a ruthless efficiency Leon would have approved of.

Aeris shook her head, as if she couldn't quite believe what she was seeing. "They're attacking him."

"That makes no sense," Archimedes agreed. "Nobodies don't have Hearts."

Vincent was silent, but his gaze burned.

Within a minute, it was over. Axel stood in half-melted asphalt, chakrams still ready as he glared at the dark. The remaining Shadows seemed to fade back and away. For now.

"Well." Axel took a few deep breaths, green eyes flicking at the shadows. "Good news is, the Superior's not gonna track you from this. Bad news is..." He closed his eyes, just for a moment, and shuddered. "Head down. Deep breaths. The time you most want to panic is the time you'd damn well better not."

"You do remember," Vincent murmured. "At least that much."

Green eyes snapped open again, bleak. "Think. Even if it's Ansem - fuck, Sora squashed Ansem, what the hell went wrong? No, no," he waved a blade-filled hand through air, frustrated. "Not helping, damn it!"

A piece of rubble shifted, heat shimmering off it in waves. Axel sidestepped it without even looking.

"Even if it's Ansem," Axel whispered, "Roxas is a Keybearer. You know Ansem can't change that. Damn Keyblade sticks tighter than glue in Demyx's hair, he's not helpless as long as he's got Oblivion and-" The redhead cut himself off, green eyes brightening. "Oathkeeper."

Merlin leaned forward, intrigued. That sounded like a man who'd had an idea.

"I made you a promise," Axel breathed. "Long shot, but - notes. Need my notes. And components. Ansem knows how to hide stuff, and he's probably got traps set. Finding you is going to be like trying to find a bear-trap in the dark. But I don't need to track you if I can track your promise." He took another, slower breath, staring at the worst of the wreckage. "Hang on, partner. I'm coming."

Darkness swallowed him, and the smoke dispersed.

"Oh, my," Merlin murmured. "That is a very quick young man." Which rather fit with anyone who shaped fire so well, but... oh, dear.

"Lea is one of the most dangerous people I've ever met," Vincent said simply. "Not because he was skilled with weapons or magic. Because he thinks." Crimson eyes closed; a silent sigh. "Riku spoke to me several times about his dilemma. For Sora to wake, Roxas had to cease to exist. Riku tried to find another way. He couldn't." Vincent shook his head. "Before he left, he said he would try to persuade Roxas." A wry smile. "He led me to believe the persuasion would be... verbal."

Merlin raised a bushy white brow. "I would say not."

"So they were both telling the truth. Mostly." Aeris leaned her chin on her knuckles, thinking. "Oh, poor Axel. If he remembers anything from Lea, this must be his worst nightmare."

"Someone he cared for, taken for the greater good." Vincent flinched. "That would explain a great deal."

Blackfire crept into Vincent's lap, crackling softly against red wool.

Aeris nodded, and gave Merlin a very stern look. "But Yen Sid said Nobodies can't care."

"He's a philosopher, that wizard," Merlin stated. "If there's one mistake those scholars are prone to, it's believing their theories instead of the evidence."

Vincent was watching him like a hawk. "And you have evidence."

"I believe I do," Merlin admitted. "But I'd rather add a few more observations, first. This bowl has a few puffs in it, yet."

From the way crimson narrowed, he was testing the sniper's patience. But Vincent drew a breath, and did not tear the chair arms off. "Riku said Axel was hard to read. A Nobody who was... amused by battle. Who fought Sora as a test, and faked his own death at least twice. He arranged for half of the Organization to die in Castle Oblivion, and killed at least one himself."

"Unusual behavior, for one who was apparently terrified of what the survivors might do if Roxas left," Merlin agreed. "What was the name of the one he killed?"

"Vexen. The ice-user."

Vexen. Merlin breathed in smoke, and blew a second ring.

Green forest, and a grassy sward leading up to a mansion's gates. Sora, Donald, and Goofy were breathing hard, obviously just out of a fight; a blond Nobody was on his hands and knees in front of the gate, laughing madly. "Turn him back?" Vexen made it to his feet, a breath from falling back over. "All he can do now is fall into the empty darkness. Just like you, Sora! If you continue to go after Naminé, you'll be trapped by your memories and lose your heart... and just be Marluxia's tool!"

Sora started. "Marluxia? What's he got to do with Naminé?"

Ablaze, a familiar chakram swept past, slamming into Vexen's chest.

Panting a bit, Axel straightened. The Keybearer turned, eyes wide. "Axel!"

Grinning, the redhead waved two fingers. "Yo, Sora! Did I catch you at a bad time?"

Black wisping from his chest, Vexen got back to his knees, dazed. "Axel, what are you..."

The Flurry crossed his arms; almost a shrug. "Just stopping you from saying things you shouldn't be. And finishing you off."

Flinging out a defensive hand, Vexen stood. "No... wait!"

Green eyes were alight, almost amused. "We just exist. We are Nobodies. But your memories and existence end here." He smiled. "You're off the hook."

Vexen recoiled, eyes white with terror. "S-stop! I don't want to-"

"See you." Axel snapped his fingers, and Vexen exploded in fire.

Sora was shaking his head, jaw agape, as the blond faded into black smoke. "What..." He turned on Axel, temper blazing. "What the hell is with you people?!"

A bitter chuckle. "Good question." Axel glanced to the side, face distant. "Sometimes I wonder about that myself."

Darkness, and Axel appeared in one of Oblivion's dark basements. Pressed a hand to his chest, face blank.

Over the heart, Merlin thought. Interesting.

After a few seconds, Axel let it drop. "Tch. What were you expecting?" he muttered. "You know what you are. Nobodies can't be Somebodies."

He stalked two quick steps; reluctantly, slowed. "But why did he look at me like that? Vexen would've gutted you if he could, Sora." His voice dropped, dark. "Or worse... he'd have kept you alive."

More slow strides, as if he could walk away from the questions. "You're so lucky, Sora. And you have no idea..." Axel shook his head, green eyes narrowed. "Why does it matter? Nobodies don't feel. We can't. Why should any of us care, when nothing returns to nothing? Stick to the plan." He snorted. "While you can still remember all of it. Weeks away from our Superior's gracious presence... it makes things so much easier." He smirked. "Time to give Marluxia the good news. The traitor has been eliminated." A chuckle. "And the traitors will be."

Still smirking, he vanished.

Merlin let his smoke disperse, watching Vincent from the corner of his eye. At first the sniper's expression had been closed, neutral; not a flinch at screams, death, or betrayal. But when Axel had mentioned a plan-

Something had flared, then. A blaze of hope, that didn't fit the vicious scene at all. And Aeris had looked grimly pleased. Hmm. "I take it the two of you saw something I missed?"

"Why would you follow a plan you know you won't always remember?" Vincent challenged him.

"Why indeed?" Merlin considered that carefully. Vincent claimed Lea had been a very intelligent young man. And from everything he'd seen, Axel was no fool. But you had to have more than intelligence for a plan like that. You had to have faith in yourself, that you'd planned ahead enough to take into account the perversity of the Multiverse, when you knew you couldn't think through your plan for flaws-

A plan you can't think about. Oh. Oh, my. "You really believe Axel could-?"

"Lea could," Vincent said levelly. "Lea has. Remind me to give you specifics of what he did to the NID while they thought he was still their mole."

"Look at what happened," Aeris urged him. "The Organization lost. Sora and Riku escaped them. Naminé won't change Sora's memories again; she saved him. And Axel let her do it."

"My dear, I don't doubt Lea's courage, or determination," Merlin said firmly. "Only those with the strongest Hearts and wills create a Nobody. But to successfully plot against a mind-reader," he drew in a breath, and puffed out an indignant cloud, "you need a great deal more than that-"

Smoke blazed into a white room, filled with a scattered blaze of colors. And an incredible blast of rock music.

Merlin winced as Archimedes stuffed feathers in his ears, and turned the sound down. They could still see the beat in Axel's tapping boot as he sat on a white bed, notebook and pen in hand, surrounded by... stuff.

And I thought Cinderella's little friends could be packrats.

It wasn't that much, on second look; about what you'd find if a few of the children piled their treasures together, plus a chest or two of pirate booty. But it was all spread out in plain view, beside the little white containers it'd been stored in. As if someone had hauled it out to look it over as a whole, instead of enjoying it piece by piece. Music. Knives. A black-and-silver spider-silk scarf, weighed down with gems in a firework-scatter of blue and topaz and ruby. A toy helicopter. Books; those were the only items half-concealed, as if Axel meant to shove them back under the bed at a moment's notice.

Vincent winced at that. Lea, he'd said, was a scholar. He'd treasured books.

Which may mean there's a very good reason to hide them, Merlin thought. "Did you notice? Half those titles appear to be in Shakuen."

From Vincent's start, he hadn't noticed. And was a bit daunted by the implications.

"Can we find out any more of what's going on?" Aeris knotted her fingers together, distressed. "If he were here, I could try to feel him."

"He does seem alone," Merlin observed. "This should be relatively safe." He wove runes with his fingers and a whisper. "Mind, it's not reading too deep. More the very surface thoughts."

"What do they have in common?" Axel tapped his pen against the page, green eyes flicking from gems to helicopter to books, and back. His voice sounded oddly distant. "Do any of them have anything in common? I had to learn to read the books; I can't have read them before. So why are they familiar?"

"Circuses. Carnivals. Tales of the city," Vincent said softly. "You know them. Just not from these worlds."

"Might be fun to take Xaldin up on a helicopter ride, and see how much I really remember," Axel smirked.

But it faded, into something bleak as a winter marsh. "But we don't feel fun. It's just in our heads." He touched over his heart, as if it were a fretful habit. "It scarred. Why does it still hurt? The others don't even seem to notice." A shrug. "Maybe they don't. And you'd better not let on that you do. Vexen's got you in his lab enough already. Nobodies aren't supposed to exist without memories. And you do. Drives him nuts." A wicked chuckle. "Heh. Can you go crazy if you can't feel it? Or are we already crazy?

"Except I don't exist without memories," Axel went on, mind-voice oddly pensive. "I've got mine, ever since I woke up. And I've got... pieces." He reached toward polished gems; drew his hand back without touching. "Like rifling through somebody else's toolbox in the dark. I run into something, and... sometimes I've got something that fits." His breath caught. "Somebody else's. The Heartless gets all the feelings, wrapped up in a little psychotic clawed package. We're supposed to get the memories. But I didn't." He touched over his heart again. "If my Heartless is still out there..."

The redhead sighed. "Focus. Putting the pieces together isn't what you're really worried about. Not putting these pieces together, anyway." Fingers drummed paper. "Xemnas. Something's off about him. More than the whole, 'we have no Hearts, we're not human' thing. So what's... Logic. Lay it out logically, damn it. If you can't feel what's right, maybe you can deduce it. What do I know?"

One finger went up. "We have no Hearts." Another. "Therefore, we are not human." A third. "We must create Kingdom Hearts. Only then will we exist as complete beings." A fourth. "The humans would never understand what we must do." His fist clenched. "One of these things is not like the others..."

Aeris was biting her lip. Merlin couldn't blame her. The odd sing-song of that last bit did not sound like a sane man.

"If we got our Hearts back, we'd be human," Axel went on, voice flat. "But Xemnas despises humans. Has to. He kills them like flies. Why would he slaughter what he wants to be? Logical answer - he doesn't. And if he's lying about that..."

A soft, almost inaudible thought. "I've got to stop him."

Axel sat bolt upright, scanning the room with wild eyes. "The hell? Am I crazy? He's got Void. He reads minds. I even think about putting a tack on his stupid throne, he'll know.

"I'm a dead man. Unless I quit this nonsense right now, get with the program; just because he doesn't want to be human doesn't mean he's lying about the rest of us-"

Gloved fists clenched. "No." Axel hunched on himself, as if in pain. "No. He's killing people. He's killing Worlds. And he's lying about why. I have to stop him."

Axel shuddered. "But I can't." Defeat rang through the words. "I'm not strong enough. He's got Void. It's like trying to stop a damn black hole-"

The redhead went very still. "A black hole."

Fingers seized notes and pen, sketching hastily. "We use magic through our affinities, unless we go to a hell of a lot of trouble not to." Axel's thoughts were a racing mutter. "Mine's Fire. Xaldin's Wind. Xemnas is Void. If his mind-reading's part of that - he doesn't cast, doesn't mumble, doesn't even finger a paper charm! It's gotta be." A bitter laugh. "Or you're dead for keeps. But if it is..."

The funnel of a black hole into elsewhere covered half the page, with a dotted event horizon around it. "He's got to have a range, or he wouldn't be so damn picky about where we are all the time," Axel rushed on. "Right now, I'm outside it. Or I'd already be dead. But once I'm inside it, and he reads me-"

The pen stilled over paper. "If he can't read me, he'll know something's up. Shield won't work. Can't shield against a black hole anyway; all you can do is stay out of its range, and hope if you do get near you can use a slingshot around another gravity well to get the hell away..."

Axel sat up. Whistled. "Slingshot."

Two more dots joined the diagram; one on the edge of the event horizon, one safely away. Circling arcs joined the dots in one long, fragile loop.

"I don't need him not to read me." Axel tapped a pen against the loop. "I need to not think of the plan when he reads me. If I can get memories from my Heartless... what if I push memories to him?"

Merlin's jaw dropped, before he recovered his poise. One thing for Vincent to propose his friend could conceive of such a wild notion. But to attempt to carry it out, without a carefully worked-out and tested spell-

Axel ripped the page out of his notes. Gripped it tight, as he searched through a scatter of polished color. "Red," he murmured, setting a pair of carnelians on the red floor, gleaming like angry eyes.

"Carnelian is protection," Merlin said quietly. "Especially for the mind. Oh dear. Surely he's not going to try to ad lib a memory spell!"

"Blue." A distance from the other pair, as if on the arc of an invisible circle.

"Aventurine. For locks and secrets. My word, he is." Merlin eyed the smoke in disbelief. "Are all of your Team this reckless?"

Vincent smirked.

"Gold." A pair of tiger-eyes, polished to shimmering bands.

"Courage, and Fire," Merlin summed up. "Two, four, six - hmm. I suppose three pairs are effective, but mystically it would be better if there were seven-"

"Wait," Vincent said softly. "Look. Red. Blue. Gold. Those are eyes." He drew a sharp breath. "Those are us."

Axel was digging into the box the gems had been stashed in, unlatching an even smaller box within to take out a steel-glittering lump.

No, not just steel, Merlin realized. A bumpy, lumpy polished steely ore, dotted with crystals of brilliant green olivine.

"And add one magnetic meteorite." Axel stepped into the circle, and grinned.

Reached into his robe, and took out a brush and a can of white paint.

"You can't make a magical circle with paint from a bucket!" Merlin sputtered. "The mystic forces require gravity, discipline, respect-"

Circle painted, Axel made the can and brush vanish. Picked up his notes and the meteorite, and nodded toward empty air. "Yo."

Aeris giggled. Merlin clapped a hand to his forehead in disbelief.

"I need to stop him," Axel said soberly. "What he's doing to the Worlds - I figure there's something that needs him stopped." He waved his notes. "This is what I've got. If you think it'll work - help me." His voice caught. "Please."

"I know when this was," Vincent murmured suddenly. "It wasn't long after I Keyed. Chaos felt - so very odd..."

For a moment, there was nothing.

Slowly, paired gems began to glow. Aventurine and tiger-eye with Light, as Merlin had expected-

Carnelian and olivine blazed Dark.

"Balanced powers," Merlin said under his breath. "Balanced forces. My word."

"He asked the Multiverse for help," Aeris said quietly. "And it answered."

Light and Dark chased each other inside the circle, crackled over gems, set paper bursting into flames-

Snapped out, leaving something shimmering in midair.

"A Keychain," Aeris breathed.

Startled, Axel gripped the mini-chakram, studying the silver-and-red chain on it with bewilderment. "What 'm I supposed to do with-"

He crumpled to his knees, as if they'd suddenly decided to abandon him. "It's... heavy."

The rhythm of rock shattered, as someone banged on the door.

"Company," Merlin grumbled, cutting off the mental probe. "How unfortunate."

Bewildered, Axel absently tucked the Keychain away in his cloak, carefully getting to his feet. Took one step toward his books-

Halted the next mid-stride, as if he'd just seen the betraying glint of white paint. Raised red brows, and stepped a little farther, quickly shoving his tomes out of sight before standing on the other side of the circle from the door. "It's open."

Darkness stalked in.

Merlin grimaced, and held the smoke together. Whatever, whoever that was, scrying did not like them.

It's as if I were trying to fix on a Keybearer who did not want to be found-

Oh. Oh, dear.

It couldn't be Xemnas. The smoke would have cleared to protect them, ending the vision. And yet-

Dear gods. What Yen Sid has let slip through those tight lips of his, of what happened to Terra and Ventus... No wonder Axel is running for his life. Any sane man would have fled years ago!

But then, Axel hadn't been sane, had he?

We should have made sure Xehanort was truly dead. We should have been sure!

Smoke coalesced, into a shape of ragged long blue hair and feral yellow eyes. "There was a disturbance in the Castle's magic. What are you-"

Saïx' foot hit slick paint, and black robes went skidding like a drunk penguin.

Safely out of the way as the Luna Diviner hit the wall, Axel snickered.

"You..." Saïx' lips pulled back in a snarl, as he carefully got to his feet. "You insist on clinging to the absurd notion that you have a sense of humor."

"Hey, last I heard, the funnybone wasn't in the Heart," Axel grinned. "Laughing, Saïx. You should try it sometime. You'd probably terrify every kid in a fifty-mile radius. Which would make a Heartless breakthrough so much easier, hmm?"

"Don't try to pretend you enjoy our work." Saïx snapped dust off his robe, eyes glittering. "The Superior may tolerate your insolence. For now. But never forget what you are. Assassins work best in the dark. When the battle moves to the open, you're useless."

"But I'm a distracting useless." Axel gave him a fey, bright grin. "You have no idea how easy it is for Heroes to get distracted."

Yellow eyes narrowed. "Perhaps you need another lesson with Xaldin."

"Maybe I do," Axel said shamelessly. "I'm not sure I got the point last time-"

Blue and black blurred.

Axel was slammed against the wall, Saïx' fingers gripping his throat. "Know your place," the Diviner said coldly. "Know your number."

"Axel. Number Eight," the redhead bit out. "I've got it memorized."

"Good." Saïx let go, stepping back; face still cold as the moon. "Then perhaps we can be friends again... Lea."

Fingering the bruises on his neck, Axel watched him with shadowed eyes.

"What? No exclamations? No sudden flashes of memory?" Saïx' pointed ears almost seemed to twitch. "It's your name."

He expected something to happen there. Merlin leaned forward, intent. He was expecting an opening. A way in.

Given what he was now all but certain had happened to Saïx, that was chilling.

No wonder the Multiverse answered. There wouldn't have been another chance.

"Three letters." Axel's face was utterly blank. "Limited number of permutations. Six, actually. Not that many to guess from."

"My, you're an untrusting sort." Saïx' smile was slow and cruel. "That must be why I liked you." He stepped away, casting a glare at the painted circle. "Clean that up."

"Looks pretty clean to me," Axel muttered, as the door snicked closed. "Huh. That was weird..." The redhead stepped back, blinking. "What the-?"

Fishing in his cloak, Axel pulled out the Keychain. Stared at it. Closed his eyes, and bit his lip.

Frowning, Merlin re-invoked the probe. Risky. But we need to know-

"It works. I didn't remember. But I felt... that means Saïx..." Axel covered his mouth with his hand, pale and shaking. "Oh, I'm gonna - no. No, no time to be sick, oh hell..."

Dead white, he dropped to one knee and breathed.

"...Xemnas is inside Saïx."

Merlin's blood ran cold. I was right. Oh heavens, I was right. And we were scrying then. If I hadn't lifted the probe-!

"That's why he's got us. Has to be. He hates humans. He wouldn't blink about wiping their souls out. So - he can't use them. He needs Nobodies. A Heart must stop it. So he finds us, strings us along, and... does it. How? And what do I do if he goes for me-"

The Keychain blazed, flames flickering on its edges.

"That a promise?" Axel swallowed. "I guess... if he gets into me, I'll forget everything permanently, huh? What a mess." He took a shaky breath. "Kind of wish I could feel scared right now. I've got a great excuse to curl up and hide somewhere. But I don't get off that easy, do I?" The redhead took a deeper breath. "Figure out who Xemnas got to. Figure out how he got to them. And if you can't..." Green eyes were bleak. "Then I need to take us all out."

"He'll do it." Dispersing smoke was warm, but Vincent felt chilled to the bone. "Half of them are dead already. Castle Oblivion, Demyx here - Riku was right. Axel did plan it that way... Aeris?"

The Cetra was pale, knuckles at her lips as she fought not to cry. "Sora."

The bottom seemed to drop out of the world.

"You thought - we all thought - Axel was angry because Roxas was gone," Aeris went on. "But he's not just angry. He's terrified. And - I felt a darkness in Sora. I thought it was just from taking Roxas back..."

In the back of Vincent's mind, Galian snarled.

This will not be, Chaos bit out. Corrupting a Keybearer? Xemnas or Xehanort, this creature must cease.

"And no wonder he's terrified." Tears were still bright in Aeris' eyes, but she kept her voice steady. "If he thinks he has to - to hurt Sora, to make sure Xemnas is stopped... who's going to believe him? Who would even believe Sora needs help? Everybody knows Keybearers can't be evil."

"Believe me, Xehanort was quite the exception," Merlin grumped.

Vincent stared at him. Xehanort is a Keybearer?

The wizard cleared his throat, and waved a warning finger. "That is not to leave this room, quite literally. If you believe Leon has to know - yes, I see from your faces you do, it wasn't important before - then we'll tell him here, behind my wards. And the two of you are not leaving until I've concocted new shields for both your Hearts. All your Hearts," he added, with a glance at the Team. "Don't say it," he grumbled at Archimedes.

"Whoooo? Me?" The owl puffed up his feathers, amused. "Why, I wouldn't dream of saying that perhaps you and His Majesty might consider playing a few cards a bit less close to your vests, hmm? In case, oh, it just happens to be that someone you didn't expect has answers we need."

"Quite." Merlin rubbed his brow.

"Our Hearts?" Vincent said sharply. "Not our minds?"

"You had mind-readers on your World, yes? The Asgard, and other creatures?" Merlin barely waited for his nod. "Likely that's why Axel jumped to that conclusion. It was a very good guess, given the man's grasping in the dark. But it was wrong." For once, the sorcerer looked near his age. "Yen Sid believed that with Xehanort's very being split apart, he could no longer access the powers of a Keybearer. Given what we now know about Sora, and Roxas... that belief was terribly wrong."

Aeris' hands gripped each other. "A Keybearer can read people's Hearts."

"And far more than that, with training," Merlin agreed. "Which Xehanort has had, and Sora, unfortunately, has not. Xehanort was - and I believe Xemnas is - quite capable of reading the World-fragments around anyone, just as Aeris can. On top of that, he was a very intelligent man. Put that together... yes, I'm quite certain Axel did feel as if Xemnas were reading his mind."

"But you believe he can't." Vincent made himself breathe normally, even as the walls seemed to close in and his demons wanted out. "If his spell failed, why is Axel still alive?"

"Because he didn't fail, young man." Merlin glanced into the distance, a smile splitting his beard. "Perhaps it was luck. Perhaps the favor of the Multiverse. Whatever the cause, even though your fiery friend drew the wrong conclusion, he took the correct action." The wizard's gaze twinkled at him. "Xemnas reads Hearts. And Axel made certain all that might have betrayed him was not there."

Stunned, Vincent stroked dark flames.

"I don't know nearly as much about a Keybearer's powers as I would like to," Merlin went on, making notes on his scroll. "Still, I do know some of what Xehanort was known to be capable of. He couldn't read minds. But he could invade them, under certain circumstances. As he appears to have done to Saïx." Merlin regarded him, eyes very grave. "As I believe he tried to do to Axel, through Saïx. Thank goodness your friend is Fire. If he'd waited to try a more tested invocation..." The wizard ducked his head a moment, brows knitted in sudden, furious thought.

Sitting on his impatience, Vincent traded a glance with Aeris. Who shrugged, equally baffled.

Merlin's face cleared, and a rolling chuckle emerged from his beard. "Ha! Oh, good show, young man. Good show indeed! Hoist on his own petard, my word!"

"Details," Vincent chorused with Archimedes.

"Heh. Heh heh, indeed!" Merlin waved his pen in triumph. "Ah, yes; you don't know how Xehanort worked. Not that even Yen Sid knows everything, I suspect. But what we do know... in essence, Xehanort dug his talons into others' minds and Hearts by making them doubt themselves. Who they truly were. Whether they were worthy of wielding their powers, or even of being. That's why he renamed the Nobodies, I'd wager. Make the new name theirs, let them exist as that being - and then, when you've settled them into that life, shatter it by invoking their old true name." For a moment, Merlin looked grim. "Using the Multiverse itself to shatter a soul. How... fiendish." The wizard snorted. "No insult to Chaos meant."

"None taken," Vincent acknowledged, turning over Merlin's facts and evident glee in his mind. "Axel can't remember his name..."

"Ordinarily, that would make no difference," Merlin nodded. "The Multiverse knows all our names. But I did say this was no ordinary amnesia spell, didn't I? Xemnas shattered Lea's very being. And when Axel gave it the chance, the Multiverse used that to spike Xemnas' wheels quite thoroughly. Axel holds that Keychain. So long as he does, the Multiverse won't allow another name to bind him." He grinned in triumph. "That's why Naminé has no shadow you can find, Aeris. Xemnas can't break her, not that way. She never had a true name, before her own."

"Xehanort," Aeris said firmly. "No matter what name he's using, he's nowhere near Ansem the Wise."

"Hmm. Yes, and no. To answer what I'm sure is one of your questions, Aeris - yes, you do know the name. But the form he took as Ansem's apprentice was not his original body." Merlin sighed. "It was another Keybearer's."

Vincent shivered. "Sora. Riku."

"Riku's a very stubborn young man, with one of the strongest talents for using Darkness cleanly I've ever seen," Merlin said firmly. "We'll warn him, yes. But recall that Riku was possessed, not split apart. His Heart always remained intact, and His Majesty believes Riku has flattened what remains of Xehanort quite thoroughly." He sighed. "Now, Sora is in very real danger. Not immediate danger, I hope. The last time, Xehanort only took over a body when his own had been destroyed-"

Vincent raised an eyebrow. "And what do you think Sora will do to Xemnas, if he catches him?"

"Ah. Yes." Merlin had the decency to look embarrassed.

Embarrassed about Sora, when Axel has been carrying a mystical target? Vincent's eyes narrowed. "Axel had a Keychain."

"Has," Merlin stated with satisfaction. "Likely since it first came to him. The energies do leave traces, if you know what to look for."

"Has," Vincent echoed in disbelief. "He's had a Keychain near a Keybearer's Nobody, for almost nine years, and Xemnas never noticed?"

"A Keyblade Master's Nobody," Merlin corrected him. "And no. I doubt Xemnas noticed a thing. I did tell you I had unusual results. And there is one scenario in which even a Keyblade Master can't sense a Keychain." He chuckled. "And won't that be one in the eye for old Yen Sid? Facts, man! Get your facts. Then build your theories."

Aeris wiped her eyes, but she was smiling. "He just would break the laws of the Multiverse."

Vincent looked between them, resting a hand on Keys' shoulder when she crept closer for comfort. The only time a Keybearer couldn't sense a Keychain was when it was in the hands of a... "Axel?"

Aeris giggled. "I can't wait to see the look on his face!"

Axel, a Hero. Somehow, it didn't seem nearly as impossible as it should.

"He's definitely Keyed." Merlin nudged his glasses, meeting Vincent's gaze squarely. "Standing to fight one who wields a force of the Multiverse, to protect other lives? That's no mere Heartless he's after. A Keyblade Master, fallen to Darkness. Axel chose to risk the Heart he doesn't know he has, when he couldn't even feel what was right." He chuckled. "As our young lady here might say, the Multiverse has decided this one's a keeper."

Vincent leveled his gaze at Aeris.

She gave him her best innocent look. "What?"

"Axel knows he has a Heartless," Vincent stated. "But the two of you aren't talking about Blackfire. Are you."

In his lap, the Heartless crackled indignantly.

"No, my boy. We're not," Merlin said, very gently. "I'm not certain what this means, or what will happen when Lea is reformed. But Axel does have a Heart."

"It's very young, and hidden," Aeris agreed. "Almost as young as Naminé's. And it hurts. But he won't give up. He could. He just won't."

"Nor should he," Merlin said firmly. "Nor should any of us. If Xemnas' power is Void, and we know it, then we all stand a better chance this time around. Knowledge, my young friends! Knowledge! Void is one of the most deadly powers in existence. But there is something which can stand against it."

Vincent felt a demon's chuckle, and knew the answer even as Aeris smiled. "And there was darkness, and a light moved on the face of the waters," he murmured. "The other face of the Void... is Chaos."

Tired. So damn tired.

Leaning against a cliff wall well away from the spaceport, Axel rubbed his eyes. You could only keep going on Potions and Ethers so long. Sooner or later, even a Nobody's body had to crash.

Sneak into town, grab some real food... their security system still glitches on Nobodies, I can blank the video feeds so the Committee never lays eyes on me-

Is that chocolate?

There are some things no man or Nobody was meant to resist. A double-chocolate chip cookie on a napkin, sitting on a small rock in plain view, was one of them.

Um. Obvious trap?

Then again, he wasn't smelling any magic besides a little housewife-charm on the napkin to persuade ants to picnic elsewhere. And Vexen's idea of proper experimental meals had made him pretty much immune to any mere food-based poison.

Besides. Chocolate. Sure, there were plenty of poisoned foods across the Worlds. Maleficent and her apples, Rasputin and his wine, and who knew what Ursula had done to poor, innocent sushi. But chocolate? Tamper with that, and you'd have half the Multiverse - Heroines and Villainesses - after your hide. It just wasn't worth it.

With a mental shrug, Axel nabbed, and munched.

Oooh man. Hot!

Immune to poison, Axel decided, plucking a bottle of water out of subspace, did not mean immune to habanero.

Cherry-chili double-chocolate chip cookies. Yowza.

...Yum.

Which was just a little daunting. Who came up with a flavor like that, unless they were practically fireproof?

A few yards down the trail, another red-and-white napkin waved in the wind.

Axel narrowed his eyes, and peered farther down the way. Somebody left a trail of cookies? Weird sense of humor...

Damn it. Now his curiosity wanted in, along with his stomach.

And don't think, "What could possibly go wrong?" You could write an encyclopedia on ways this could go bad.

Warily, Axel followed the trail, tucking cookies away in a subspace pocket while he kept nibbling on the first. Hungry, yes. Stupid, no.

A dozen cookies later, there was a note with the last. I'd like to talk.

Glancing out of the corners of his eyes, Axel spotted a bit of tattered red cloth peeping around the edge of a boulder. "So talk."

"Chaos said you preferred to keep solid rock between you and an unknown."

A rich voice, that seemed to wrap around Axel's ears and twitch, you've heard this before. He tucked the last cookie away, tense. "Chaos?"

"You warned him not to close with Xemnas."

Oh. The big guy. Huh. "So where is he?" Axel asked warily. "He didn't go after Xemnas after all, did he?" 'Cause that would just suck.

"Worried?"

Axel snorted. "You kidding? I'm a Nobody." Though he wondered. Sometimes, he wondered. "It'd just be a waste. I warned him."

"He listened," the not-familiar voice said firmly. "He has a very good hiding place."

Ooookay. "You got a name?"

A resigned chuckle. "Yuffie calls me Vinnie. Sometimes." More soberly, "You warned Chaos about Xemnas. But not about Saïx." Quieter, "Or what might be lurking in Sora, to turn the tide for evil when we least expect it."

Axel took a step back, hands out and ready to summon at his sides. Behind rock, nothing; all he had to do was angle the throw right. "What do you know?"

"I'm on the Restoration Committee. Chaos is - a friend. With the information you gave us, Merlin was able to scry for some daunting information." A breath. "Xemnas is placing fragments of himself in other Nobodies?"

Why did it suddenly feel like he couldn't breathe? Axel swiped the back of his glove at burning eyes. "You believe me?"

"Yes."

And the Bond of Flames was still a heavy, remembered weight in his cloak. No trace of Xemnas here. Axel swallowed the lump in his throat, and just tried not to fall down.

"Axel?"

"I don't know how he does it," Axel got out. "I don't know why he's doing it. He left Naminé alone; maybe being a Princess of Heart's Nobody keeps her safe. But everybody else... Saïx and Xigbar are the worst. He doesn't have much range in them, maybe a couple yards. But he's there. And everybody else..."

Vinnie's voice was quiet. "Including Roxas."

"I thought the Keyblade would protect him." It hurt to get the words out. "That's what it's for, right? Killing all the nasty stuff in the Multiverse. And it did. For a while." Axel shuddered. "But when DiZ had him in that virtual Twilight Town - Roxas forgot he had the Keyblade."

A sharp hiss from the other side of the rock. "Xemnas got to him there?"

"I don't know." No, no wailing. Wailing bad. "All I know is, when I tried to grab him... I forgot the plan." He almost wanted to chuckle at the irony. "I forgot. So I let him go. That's what friends do, right? I let part of Xemnas walk right into Sora and make itself at home. Now what the hell do I do, huh? Everybody's counting on Sora, and I..." He couldn't say it.

I have to kill him.

"Everything you love will die..."

"It won't come to that." Vinnie's voice was firm. "Merlin and Aeris are already working on the problem. They've contacted others who knew of Xehanort. His Majesty has been warned." A sigh. "If the worst comes to pass... Flora, Fauna, and Merryweather will cast him into an enchanted sleep. We will find a way to save him."

It hurt to hope. It hurt.

"Merlin isn't certain what Xemnas is after," Vinnie stated. "But he believes he knows how Xemnas is possessing other Nobodies."

For one red moment, Axel wanted to call up an inferno and shatter the boulder into powder. "Talk."

"Easy," Vinnie said softly. "Yen Sid would not be happy if he knew this information was in a Nobody's hands. But you've fought him for years, when we didn't even know he existed. You deserve to know." A rustle of cloth. "Xemnas is Xehanort's Nobody."

Xehanort. Take out the X, and- "Are you sure?" Axel said skeptically.

"To the best of Merlin's knowledge. Why?"

Not challenging me. Which was weird. "'Cause it anagrams to No Heart, and that's just way too convenient to be a coincidence."

...Now, that sounded like a hissed curse. "It might not be a true name at all," Vinnie growled. "Damn."

"Not exactly filling me with confidence on the quality of Merlin's info, here," Axel smirked.

"I'll have to remember that sugar makes you snarky."

Which sounded like Vinnie was planning for there to be other chats. That was interesting. And scary. "So what else does Merlin think he knows?"

"Xehanort was a Keyblade Master."

...Good rock. Solid rock. Great for holding somebody up, when the world decided to fall out from under them. "Gaaah."

"Agreed," Vinnie said dryly.

"And Sora's going after-" Breathe. Keep breathing. No help to anybody if you're passed out. "The kid is gonna die." No, no, can't let that happen, no! He's still got Roxas in him, and - not gonna happen!

"Not if we can help it." Vinnie's voice was determined. "But apparently that's how Xemnas is possessing other souls. He's... perverting the ability of a Keybearer to read others' Hearts. Using it to twist Hearts into despair, and Darkness. Once a soul has lost the core that makes it itself - then he can invade a mind, and take over. And has. He's already taken at least one Keybearer as a new body. The form you know, the one we've always seen... that's not Xehanort." Vinnie's voice dropped. "Merlin says his name is Terra."

Terra. Axel tasted the name; catching a flavor of old magic, like a hint of lavender from a forgotten dowry chest. "Poor bastard."

"Yes." A sigh. Then a hint of a chuckle. "So. With a Keybearer's abilities, Xemnas can sense the shape of a person's... place in a Story. And he's very, very intelligent. Put those together, and he has a very good idea what people will think and do, without ever touching their minds at all." The chuckle wasn't hidden, this time. "I know you hate to be wrong."

"Not a mind-reader," Axel said blankly.

"You came from a world in which they were... known to some people. One of them was your Other's enemy." A shift of cloth and leather. "It was a reasonable conclusion, based on the little you knew."

Alarm sizzled through him like acid. Axel smiled, and knew it would scare Ursula's pets into swimming for their fishy little lives. "You think you know about my world?"

"...Damn." A soft thump, like a head impacting stone.

"I don't know about my world. And you think you do?" Fire and steel were waiting for him. All Axel had to do was reach.

"No," Vinnie sighed. "But Chaos and I have met refugees from worlds where mind-readers exist. You've obviously had experience with them. And not as allies."

"And how do you know that?" The fire was singing in Axel's blood; he wanted to fight, wanted to beat something that would stay down, damn it all.

"Chaos mentioned that you reminded him of someone he knew." Vinnie's voice was sure. "That man had lived in the power of a mind-reader for quite some time. It left... marks."

Silence. Which was far more persuasive than words. A liar would have kept talking, kept spinning the story out to draw him in like a fly. Vincent - was silent.

Why do I believe him?

Because he did. He wanted to trust that red flutter of cloth, that quiet confidence that seemed to take his fear and pain and give back, you are not alone, you're safe-

Axel tensed. Felt it echoed, somehow; reflected back with a warm wrap of, shh, it's all right. "What the hell is that?"

Surprise. Rueful amusement. "You have... a bond with Chaos. As do I."

"The hell?" Axel bit out. "I know demons. I didn't give him anything, I didn't take anything-"

"You gave him your trust. And he returned it."

Like I trust anybody. "You out of your mind?"

"You trusted Chaos not to simply eat you," Vinnie went on. "He trusted you not to distract him while he was engaged in combat-"

"That's not a gift," Axel objected. "That's fucking common sense."

"Common sense is a rare gift among demons," Vinnie chuckled. "And among humans, for that matter. You didn't just fight. You considered why you were fighting." His voice was firm. "So consider this. You do not have to die."

"Die? Who, me?" Axel plastered on his best everything's going up in flames grin on. "Nah. Now, the other guys-"

"Axel." Vinnie sounded dangerously sober. "I know you're considering it. You mean to stop Xemnas, no matter what it takes. Everybody else, you said. That includes you." Vinnie's voice dropped. "But he's not in you, Axel. Chaos knows his opposite. You've been exposed to Void, but there's not a trace of Xemnas in you."

"You don't know that," Axel got out, voice thick. "You can't know that. I'm no Keybearer. Just a guy Xemnas scooped up who knows where. Don't even know how long he had me, how much he got in before he let me remember anything-"

"Your Heart kept him out."

If Axel had had a heart, it might have skipped a beat. "Say what?"

"Merlin and Aeris can wring a lot of information from the Multiverse," Vinnie went on. "Before your Other died, he was caught in an unusual spell. You are linked to your Heartless. To possess another, Xemnas and Xehanort both require a Heart drowned in Darkness. Yours isn't."

"But..." Axel called up a flicker of Darkness, just a nudge at the space between here and there.

"You do have an affinity for Darkness," Vinnie acknowledged. "That's rare; far more rare than Fire, or Wind, according to Merlin. But that apparently makes you more safe, not less. Your Heart has touched Darkness. But it is not lost."

I want to believe you.

But it seemed too easy. Too much like hope.

You don't know the things I've done.

There were creaks and rustling, like someone putting down a heavy rucksack. "I'm leaving a pack here," Vinnie stated. "I would invite you into town, but you'd be too nervous to get any rest. It would be safe for you, the Committee knows you are not our enemy... but that, you'll have to see for yourself." Cloth brushed over stone, the red flutter vanishing behind the boulder. "Pick a defensible spot. There are usually at least a few Heartless in any of the caves around here."

"Nobody," Axel reminded him.

"You draw as many Heartless to you as Leon does." A soft laugh. "I wonder why?"

I smell like a Keybearer, that's why. Must stick around.

Soundlessly, that sense of trust faded.

Axel waited a few minutes more, then cautiously edged around the boulder. One backpack. As stated.

Not promised. Just said. Huh. Cautious guy.

The caution, he liked. He liked it a lot. The backpack...

Why did that make him so angry?

Let it go, Axel told himself, checking through the contents; food, water, sleeping bag, a host of useful little things. So they're helping Sora, not you. What'd you expect? He's the Hero. That's how it works.

Meanwhile, supplies were supplies, and he could definitely use them. That sleeping bag looked so good...

Shrugging the pack onto one shoulder, Axel grinned. The heck with caves. There were a lot of little tents dotted around the spaceport. If one happened to be perched right under a roof overhang near Merlin's hut - heh, you'd have to have wings to notice.

So let's make sure we stay clear of the darn fairies.

(And a time-skip occurs, while our poor characters are trying to keep up with the havoc Sora sows through the Multiverse.)

"Larvae-chewing spawn of an Unas!"

"Amen," Axel growled, staring at that horde of shifting white and gray and zipper-mouthed teeth. Because damn, anybody in the Org knew Xemnas could make Nobodies, but this-

Wait. He'd heard words, not a translation. Which meant whatever language that was, it had to be a World language. Not Vinnie's language, but still from Vinnie's World...

And I knew what he said.

The world seemed to blaze red around the edges. He should stop, keep quiet, at least run away-

He gripped his temper as he would his flames, and made it back down. Don't be an idiot. Wait. Could be a thousand reasons why a guy from the Committee - a guy who's had refugees dropped on him from all over the Multiverse - might know other languages.

But he knew that language. Why?

Yeah, well - too many reasons why that might happen, right? Most of 'em ending in fire and death.

But he wanted to know. Like he wanted to know what was really under that cloak. Why there was somebody on the Committee Sora didn't know about. Why Vinnie answered to a name that obviously wasn't his.

...Only Axel was pretty sure he could guess that last one. Came down to the same reason there were twisted ravening hordes below them, and it had an X written all over it. "My kingdom for a shaped charge. A ton of shaped charges."

"A pity we're not near Radiant Garden." Vinnie kept his distance, tone dry. Though ruby kept flickering toward Axel, searching. "I know some experts."

Axel squashed the urge to slap that gaze away. It was just eyes. Not fingers ghosting over this skin, claiming every inch as known and belonging. Nobodies didn't belong anywhere. "You might be talking to them sooner than you think."

Vinnie stilled. "You think-"

"I think that's an army down there, and what the hell else is Xemnas gonna throw it at? Besides the guys who smacked the Heartless down the last time." Or Sora. Gods, no. Not him.

"We've been under siege before."

Axel snorted. "Sure you have. That's not gonna be a siege, fuzzy. It's gonna be a slaughter."

"The Committee can hold them-"

"No, you won't!" Axel's chest ached. Crazy. "He's not coming for your damn walls, Vinnie! He's coming for you. All of you! Naminé's there, and everybody who ever kicked Org ass, and he is about to make you bend over and kiss it all goodbye."

"We've fixed the security systems." Vinnie's tone was level. Almost reassuring.

Except not, because Axel knew those security systems. "You fixed the hardware, you jarhead! You think I've been dancing in and out with bells on 'cause of a few burned-out sensors?"

The red cloak was silent. Waiting.

What do I do? That's the only ace I've got left...

Dusks in Radiant Garden. No kids learning to dance and fight and laugh even when the monsters poured out of the darkness. No blue suits stalking the shadows, breaking rules and breaking heads, all to keep people faced at the real enemies. No ninjas to tie up in string, no green eyes that knew him and giggled, even though Aeris of all people had to feel the Darkness clinging to him-

"It's a logic problem."

Vinnie raised a startled brow.

"The Elders were from Radiant Garden, before - before. Some of them knew how Tron was programmed. I found Vexen's notes." Went through them after the guy was dead, and never mind how nauseous it made him. You had to take your intel where you could find it. "He's meant to interface with human users. Means he has to think more like a person than a program. And that means he's got blind spots. Not bad sensors. How he thinks."

Wordless, Vinnie inclined his head.

"You tell a computer you're two places at the same time, that's the info it spits back out," Axel rushed on. "You tell a person you're two places at once, he says, what are you, nuts? And Tron's not supposed to go crazy. He's supposed to be safe. Somebody you can trust. So if the sensors tell the computer you're doing something impossible, and that's the data that's supposed to go through Tron..."

"It never gets to him," Vinnie breathed. "Damn."

"Don't ask me how the programs work. I don't know," Axel said flatly. "What I know, is that if I open a portal and put some of my fire through it - that's my magic. It's me. And if all those nifty magic-sensors you've got up say I'm in two places at the same time..." He shrugged. "Far as Tron's concerned? I can't be there. So I'm not. And like the little ninja says-"

"To not be seen, is to be invisible." Vinnie shook himself. "But the Dusks can't think."

"If Xemnas goes along for the ride," Axel hated every word, "you really think they'll have to?"

Wind moaned, as if the Graveyard's threadbare fabric of the Multiverse was unraveling thread by thread. The color-shot wrongness near the Dusk hordes seemed to shift, twisting bodies slipping into it like sand down an hourglass. "Go," Axel said grimly.

"Axel-"

"Go, go, go!" Axel slapped a hand at air. Deep breath. He could do this. "I'm going after Sora."

"But-"

"What, you want him to land in the middle of that mess when he comes charging back for Hordes of the Great Maw, The Sequel? Not gonna let that happen." Not when he'd finally beaten his ego down enough to admit that no, he was not going to be able to take Saïx on his own and get Kairi back. And leaving her in the Org's clutches, even if it would draw Sora into a trap full of Heartless...

I can't do it. It's wrong.

And that hurt. Roxas was his partner. Didn't that mean something? Didn't it mean everything? He'd burn up whole Worlds to save Roxas. Why couldn't he let the Org have one annoying little girl?

"Axel."

Something in Vinnie's voice brought him up short, before he could reach for Darkness. "Yeah?" he asked warily.

"Thank you. For helping us. I know it can't be easy."

Axel's hands curved at his sides, already longing for a simple, clean fight. "You want to thank me, tell me why the hell I'm doing this. You got a Heart. Maybe you know. Why can't I just... do what's easy? Let him win." He stared at blurring colors; seeing a wall of flames, and sober blue eyes under spiky blond hair. "Why can't I just quit?"

"I had a friend once, who fought because he didn't want to die," Vinnie said quietly. "But you, Axel... you fight because you want to live." Silent, he held out a hand.

"I did that to Sora, once," Axel said, half to himself. "Told him we had a lot in common; did he want a hint? Smart kid. He didn't take it." It hurt. "Sometimes I wonder... what would've happened, if I took his?"

Even through leather, Vinnie's hand was warm.

"Get going," Axel ordered, stepping back. "You're a Hero, right? You got Worlds to save." He smirked. "I'm gonna go blend in with the bad guys."

The portal slammed him into the corridors, with that elevator-thump that meant he'd been more than careless. That meant if anybody was listening, they'd probably sensed him. Bad.

But Axel could feel Oathkeeper's tug on where his heart ought to be, sharp as fresh-broken glass.

Hang on, partner. I'm coming.

I should have known, Leon thought, stunned, gripping his mug of steaming coffee in both hands. Under him the armchair fluffed itself, trying to comfort whatever had distressed him. Merlin brought out coffee. I should have known something was going wrong. "Axel's a what?"

Sipping his own mug, Merlin waggled his brows to waft away steam. "You heard me perfectly well the first time, Squall Leonhart."

How Merlin could make him feel like he'd been scruffed by a drill sergeant with just a name, Leon had no idea. But still. "A Keybearer? Axel?"

"We know from Roxas that it's possible," Merlin said plainly. "And no, Axel is not a Keybearer. Currently. But he does have the potential. I did tell you about the Keychain, yes?"

"Vividly." Leon gulped some of the coffee. The caffeine was welcome. Now if it would just wake him up.

No such luck. "Why are you telling me this?" And that was not a plaintive groan. If anybody said so, he'd deny it.

"Vincent has quite enough on his plate already, trying to lure Axel in," Merlin stated, setting his mug down. "Aeris - well, I admire the young lady, but I don't want to take the chance that her exuberance might outweigh her good sense. I've scryed quite a bit of Axel's past, and... oh dear. That Vincent has gotten him this close to the Committee is a mark of his patience and cunning. Things could go sideways, all too easily." He pursed his lips, choosing his words. "Ordinarily I would say nothing, until we have him convinced we've no ill intent toward him. But given what Xehanort was, and what Xemnas still may be - I'm not in the habit of taking foolish chances. Someone needs to know. And you seem the most likely someone to have any inkling what we should do with this knowledge."

I am, huh? Why did people keep tagging him with responsibility? So what am I supposed to do with - wait. Leon took a deliberate sip of coffee. "He doesn't have a Keyblade. What makes dealing with Axel different from dealing with any other magic-user?"

Merlin smiled, and nodded. "Astutely put, young man. To sum up? The vast majority of those who use magic cannot tap World energies directly." He frowned. "Most Keybearers would never dream of using that ability to cause harm. But one who does have ill intent, or who might be controlled by one such, as Riku was for a time by Xehanort... Keyholes can become very fragile. The amount of energy Xemnas could tap if Axel were ever in his grasp again..." Merlin sighed. "With luck, it still would not be as much as Riku and Sora can wield together. The Keyblade is strengthened by the Heart that bears it; two friends together will always be more powerful than an enemy and his unwilling servant."

"But Xemnas is trained." Leon could see where this was going. "And they aren't." A trained mage who could only pull off a candle-lighting spell could be far more dangerous than an untrained one with Firaga.

"Indeed." Merlin stared into steam, and drank.

I am so glad we're not in Traverse Town anymore, Leon thought fervently. Granted, if Radiant Garden's Keyhole was unlocked again, things would get bad. But the energies a few angry Keybearers could toss around might have torn that fragile sanctuary apart. "That's why you're helping Vincent get closer to Axel."

The wizard gave him a stern look. "Nobody or not, that firebrand deserves our help. He's risked everything to stop Xemnas. The least we can do is offer kindness, and safety."

Hairs prickled on the back of Leon's neck. "Risked everything?"

Merlin raised a hand as if to ward the question off; lowered it with a sigh. "I've no idea how to tell Vincent. I'm not at all certain I should. If he panics, if he tries to trap Axel even for his own good - especially then! - we may lose both of them." Merlin tapped the arm of his chair, thinking. "I don't think Vincent registered it, but... to acquire that Keychain, Axel did not use a spell. He used an invocation."

Leon leaned back against fluff, mulling that over. "He called on the power of the Multiverse. Isn't that what Keybearers are supposed to do?"

"Indeed it is," Merlin nodded. "They are given the power, and the right, to act to stop the Heartless. But Axel is not a Keybearer. Not yet." He looked into the distance. "And the vast majority of Keybearers don't spend their existence helping Worlds to Fall. There's a price to be paid for that, and it is never cheap." For a moment, the wizard's kind eyes glittered with righteous fury. "Axel may have more than his own price to pay. I strongly suspect Xemnas has many reasons for possessing the other Nobodies. But one, above all, might be enough. If the rest of the Organization are parts of his will... then they can pay the price for him. And Xemnas himself will escape the Multiverse's wrath."

Leon clenched fingers on ceramic, willing himself to pull back before he broke it. Sometimes you had to call something what it was. "That's evil."

"So it is," Merlin agreed. "I've no idea who trained Xehanort with a Keyblade, but I'd like to give them a stern talking-to." He breathed in coffee steam. "If we're fortunate, none of this will matter. Vincent will convince Axel we're allies, we'll bring him to Yen Sid, and we'll shake the old sorcerer until some sense falls out and Axel can train as a Keybearer."

Right. And we're always so lucky. Leon grimaced. "And if we're not?"

"You, Reeve, and Aeris are Vincent's closest friends." Merlin's gaze met his, grave. "He will need you."

Damn. Leon sighed, and nodded. "So what else should I know about potential Keybearers?"

"Well..."

Darkness whooshed; Leon leapt away from Merlin to open the range, hand automatically going for his gunblade-

"Leon!" Vincent, tense and frightened as he'd ever seen the man as shreds of purple-black wisped away. "There's an invasion coming!"

(Timeskip, after the Heroic Sacrifice)

"I feared this day would come."

Numb, Vincent raised his head, Keys and Scathach pressing closer to him. The wind over the tower battlements was cold today. He'd counted on that and the stairs to keep most well-meaning friends and allies at bay. But none of that was enough to cow Merlin. "You knew."

"I suspected." The wizard perched in a crenellation beside them, fearless of heights. And why not? Fall, and with a few words he'd become a bird. "Axel was Fire and Air. Using the properties of gems to create the Bond of Flames... that was an invocation, not a spell. The Multiverse itself loaned him the power." The wizard lowered his gaze, respectful and mourning. "Such loans must be repaid. Always."

If he weren't so numb, Vincent thought distantly, he might be truly angry. "You knew, and you said nothing."

"I hoped that I was wrong. I can be wrong, after all. And I truly hoped I was." Merlin shook his head, hat not even wavering in the wind. "By the time we'd learned of it, that invocation was nine years past. He'd helped Sora, saved Naminé, and thrown a fiery spanner into all of Xemnas' plans. I'd hoped that would be enough to balance the books, so to speak."

Vincent closed his eyes. "But it wasn't."

"No." Merlin was very quiet. "No, I'm afraid not. He said so himself, the poor soul. He was part of the Organization. He helped Worlds to Fall." He sighed. "Including yours."

Galian snarled, and Vincent almost bared his teeth. "That was not Lea's fault."

"And was it Riku's, that Destiny Islands Fell, when all he wanted was to leave?" Merlin held his gaze without a hint of fear. "Worlds Fell by their hands. That always - always - carries a price."

Now Vincent did snarl, holding Galian's rage at bay with an effort of will. "He was trying to stop them!"

"And they're not stopped yet, are they?" Merlin crossed his arms, stern. "Would Lea want you sitting up here in a great big lump of misery, hmm?"

The gauntlet closed on stone. As if from a distance, Vincent watched it begin to powder. "Leave me in peace."

"Now, see here-"

"Merlin." Tseng's voice, echoing up the stairs. "That's enough."

The Turk leader, speaking against one of Radiant Garden's defenders? Vincent blinked, the red haze fading from the world.

Blue suit, tied-back black hair, tattoo and black tie contrasting with the formal white shirt. Tseng stepped fearlessly out onto the tower roof, standing so his body shielded a little blonde from the blast of wind.

Naminé?

"With all due respect, sir." Tseng tipped his head toward Merlin. "Valentine and I need to speak privately."

Merlin glanced between them. Frowned at Naminé, who ducked her head, sad and determined as Vincent had ever seen her. "Well then," the wizard said thoughtfully. "I suppose we'll take this up again later." He raised a warning finger. "In the meantime, don't do anything foolish, young man. There are far too many people who would miss you."

Sparing his magic, the wizard took the stairs.

"I'd be missed," Vincent said quietly. "Axel isn't."

Naminé gave him a look that should have scorched him to the bone. But she pressed her lips together, glancing up at Tseng.

The Turk leader raised an eyebrow, then met Vincent's gaze. "The young lady had an interesting request."

"I wanted to meet people who weren't Keyed," the Nobody said, voice thick with unshed tears. "I wanted to know what Sora was fighting for. What all of you fight for." She sniffled. "What Axel was fighting for. Even if he couldn't remember it."

"Part of what he was fighting for." Vincent had to smile, even if it was bittersweet. "Lea always had a visceral reaction to tyrants." He drew a breath, and met her gaze. "What did you find?"

"Axel was right. People are strange." Her white dress ruffled in the wind as she shrugged. "But... that's not a bad thing. Your Hearts reach out to each other. It's so warm. I guess... I guess I know what Axel was always trying to find. What Roxas wanted, when he joined Sora to be whole. And Xion..." She looked down, shaking her head. "Axel tried to save all of us. But... he couldn't. It's not fair."

"No," Vincent agreed softly. "Twice I tried to save him. And... I failed."

"No you haven't." Naminé gripped her pencil in one hand, just as he would grip Cerberus. "Not yet. If you stop Xemnas, if his Kingdom Hearts is shattered-"

"Our world has not come back in ten years," Vincent stated. He couldn't hope. He couldn't.

"But it might." Blue eyes beseeched him. "I'm Kairi's Nobody. I can feel... some things. The Heart of your World is trapped in Xemnas' castle. If we can free it..."

Home.

...No. Not my home. Not anymore.

But if a World revived with all the Hearts that had been lost, all the lives the Heartless had taken restored...

Kin, Galian breathed. As if it were reason enough for anything. Our kin.

Red Cloak was silent as always, but his angles and darting images were red hair and fire and back-to-back against our enemies.

Vincent nodded. Chaos?

To free the Heart of your World, we'll have to go through Xemnas, the demon replied. I find that prospect attractive.

Hmm. Didn't they all.

"Your partner died before he could finish the job," Tseng said bluntly. "What do you intend to do, Vincent Valentine?"

Vincent met that unwavering brown stare, and nodded. Looked at Naminé. "You have a plan."

"I can show you the way to the Castle that Never Was. Axel wanted to rescue Kairi, and..." Naminé's voice faltered. "He can't. So I will."

Vincent tilted his head, considering her words. From what he knew of Nobodies, this was not without risk. "If you're too close to Kairi-"

"I know." Her eyes were wet, but she gave him a brave smile. "There were people I wanted to see. Places I wanted to go. And... I saw them. I met all of you. I'll never forget that." She held out her hand. "But I'm afraid, if I tell the others... they might try to stop me."

"So you went to the Turks. Wise." Vincent inclined his head. "Are you ready?"

Swallowing, she nodded.

"Scathach. Keys." Vincent waited until they were close, then glanced at Tseng. "Tell Leon I've gone to finish a job."

Shifting into the silk-mist of Red Cloak, he carried them all away.

"He's going to get killed," Siler muttered, poking at yet another of Cid's diagrams as he tried to sort out what was wrong with the latest crashed Gummi ship. They'd worked out a pretty fair Shakuen-to-English lexicon years ago, but Gummi ships... well, they were made from part of the stuff that kept Worlds apart. Every once in a while something in them might decide they didn't like their current configuration, and then you had to go hunting for wherever the circuits might have gotten to. "Wrench. Vincent is going to get killed, permanently this time, and I'm going to be stuck here with clothes-switching fairies, live chairs, and what the Mob would look like if Harry Potter went cyberpunk." The heavy weight of the wrench landed in Siler's hand, and he almost froze. "...Um. No offense."

Rude smirked, overhead light glinting off the Turk's shaved dark head and the myriad silver rings studding his left ear. "None taken." A brow lifted, arching over his mirror-shades.

"Yeah, you still remind me of Teal'c," Siler admitted. "Though I don't think he ever rigged anything to blow up. Or did much of anything engineering related." The engineer had to smile at the memory. "Flew a mean death glider, though. The general had the ride of his life."

There. One access panel off. Circuits, circuits, where had they - aha. "Low and to the right," Siler muttered, making notes on the repair log. No telling if the wiring would still be there the next time the ship needed repairs, but at least they'd have a place to start. "Why couldn't Tseng tell somebody before Vincent and Naminé went poof?"

Rude's shrug barely stirred his blue suit. "Ask him."

Yeah, right. The Turk leader had the most genteel way of twisting questions aside without really answering them Siler had seen since the last time he'd dealt with a tax attorney.

Tseng's not stupid, Siler reminded himself. Naminé was our look in on how Nobodies think. If he let her slip out of our reach, he must have had a good reason.

...Then again, Turks usually considered "I wanted to blow stuff up" a good reason.

And that led to part of his brain tying together explosions and the fact that Naminé could do nasty things to people's memories, and voting for them to go hide in a corner until everything blew over. Cid knew the Turks. He'd understand perfectly.

But I've got a job to do, Siler reminded himself, testing one wire at a time to see if it was carrying the right amount of electrical and thaumaturgical current. Aha. One broken wire, another that had gotten contaminated with Water when it was supposed to be carrying Air. You do the job, even if you want leave. It's like being TDY. For a long, long time.

Vincent didn't consider himself on temporary duty. Hadn't for years. Traverse Town, now here; the sniper fit into the Multiverse like ghosts in Halloweentown. And Vincent still had that plaque of spiderwebs and moth-wings, stretched over a thin slab of Night itself.

Town Mascot. Siler shuddered. He'd told Vincent it was neat. And... it was. But wrapping his mind around the existence of Worlds like that, where Vincent was considered odd not because he changed into monsters, but because he spent part of the time human...

I want to go home.

Siler shook his head, angry. He'd already indulged in his usual five minutes of wishful thinking for the day. Time to-

Rude's PHS went off.

The Turk flipped it open, nodding even as Siler pulled himself out of the panel. "Yes. Hangar bay five. We'll be waiting." He clicked it closed. "Finish your notes, fast. Reeve's got a warning on you."

"On me?" Siler said in disbelief. Yes, the Midgar engineer was a Seer of sorts. Which amused Aeris to no end, and Siler had never quite dared to ask why. But Reeve got warnings on Heartless waves. He never got a warning on individuals, unless-

Oh my god.

Siler's hands shook as he inked down his last thoughts on the Gummi repair. Ten years. It'd been ten years, they couldn't possibly be-

Rude was all but dragging him out of the ship, as Reeve skidded into the spaceport hangar at a dead run. Brown eyes lit up, and Reeve slowed down just enough to avoid crashing into them. "Here."

Stunned, Siler took the forest cammo handles Reeve offered, and tugged the go-bag into his own subspace pocket. Damn, Vincent. What have you got in there, lead?

Cerberus. Ammo. Yeah, probably. "This is Vincent's-"

"He probably won't have time to come back for it." Reeve offered a hand. "Good luck, Sergeant Siler. We're going to miss you."

"Likewise," Siler stammered, shaking warm fingers. "I'm going-?"

"Yes."

And the world seemed to haze, gold and dark and light-

The whiteout faded into concrete, fluorescent lights, and an old, familiar toolbox on the floor by his feet. Siler blinked at the clipboard in his hand, looking at the tasks marked off so far: one fusebox checked, one scientist harangued for plugging too many devices into a single power strip, one suspicious rattling in the ducts that had necessitated calling Security before he opened the grate, because this was the SGC and you just never knew what might be in there. Fortunately, it was just a lost pencil.

Heart in his throat, Siler checked the date. Monday. It's Monday, on-

Damn. King Mickey had said the Keyblade might reset their World back to before the first Heartless attack, but Siler had never quite believed it. Yet there was the date, in black and white.

Today's the day SG-6 goes to Xuihotl.

Monday at the SGC. He had a full load on his plate. Better get to it.

But for now, he'd just stand here, and breathe in home.

DiZ's machine!

Gone, Vincent knew as he hid in a white alcove of the Castle That Never Was. Vaporized in a blast that had shaken even Chaos to the core. So much power, so many Hearts freed-

Scathach and Keys were Fading.

No! Not again!

They fought to hold onto him, talons gripping his cloak even as they turned transparent. Vincent could feel their desperation, their panic; Vincent was their Heart, and something was trying to take him away.

The World calls them back. Almost a snarl, from Chaos. Xemnas was their target, and he was still out there...

"How can we help them?" Because yes, Xemnas had to be destroyed, but this was his Team. If he lost them, the way he'd lost Lea-

Chaos growled, but more in frustration than anger. Three Keybearers were together to face Xemnas; it had to be enough. Trust me. Reach for the Light!

It burned.

Falling. Almost like being flung through the Stargate, dark and stars and potential singing in his veins-

Knees gave out, and Vincent sat down on a locker room bench.

Green-clad knees. SGC fatigues.

I thought it would be easier for both of us, Chaos murmured. We should be able to maintain this appearance, if we must. Though your other selves are... upset.

Which was a mild way of describing Galian's indignant caterwaul at being without metal claws, and Red Cloak's sense of darting, closed in, flee!

Shh, Vincent willed them. The locker room was empty for now, but that could change quickly. Hush. Be still. Let us listen. Let us feel.

Curiosity, quick flicks of interest; like eyes following a stone skipped across a pond.

Angela. So much more bright and alive than Scathach as a Heartless. She's alive. She's whole.

And if one of his team was alive...

Another breath, and Vincent touched a steady thrum of calculation and interest, laced with the shimmer of excitement that could only be one contemplating another adventure through the 'Gate.

Elisa. Captain.

Two down. If Mickey and Riku were right, if power and the Multiverse had been kind...

Farther away. Flickering, as if a breeze were fluttering a flame two separate directions; terror and determination one way, a burning, black-humored confidence in the other.

Lea. I think.

Perhaps, Chaos murmured. If he chooses so, when his Heart becomes whole once more.

Vincent started. He's injured?

I think he is more well than he has been in many years, Chaos chuckled. Two flames can become one, but it does take a little time.

Two flames. Lea's Heart, and Axel's. What will that do to him? To them?

We'll have to see, won't we? Chaos sank back, barely a murmur now. Hurry. You won't be alone much longer.

No; not if today were close to the day he remembered. And while his fatigues might pass, there was one crucial detail he needed to hide.

Spinning the combination on his locker, Vincent took out a boot knife. It was a good blade; trustworthy, keen-edged, and durable. He'd hoped to save it, this time around.

I have more important things to save.

Steel groaned as he sliced off the weight of hair.

A quick glance in the mirror, and Vincent nodded. Not regulation, but it would do. For now.

Hmm. He had the oddest feeling he was forgetting something...

From the mirror, crimson eyes blinked at him.

Vincent caught the sink before his knees could shake, heart beating fast and wild. I forgot. I forgot.

Ten years, he'd been among friends and allies. Among people who accepted Vincent has red eyes the way they did Cloud has a wing and Merlin's furniture is alive.

Not here. Never here.

I... want to go home...

Galian purred comfort at him. Even Red Cloak's darting seemed to slow, like silk blowing in a breeze.

I want to go home, Vincent acknowledged, letting the wild gardens and blue-purple cliffs of Radiant Garden unroll in his mind's eye. But not without my team. "Sunglasses," he murmured, hearing footsteps in the hall. Dug them out, and yanked them on, just before SG-2 poured in.

"Hey, Sergeant Valentine!" Major Ferretti grinned at him. "You'll never believe it. Sounds like you guys lucked out."

That was not what he'd said last time. "Oh?" Vincent asked, hiding unease with curiosity.

"Jackson's hieroglyphs. You haven't heard yet? Nah, what 'm I saying, you've been down here studying the briefing the way you always do." Ferretti gave him a thumbs-up. "Your new guy. Dr. Androushan, right? He aced it."

"Broke out laughing right there at the front desk," Lieutenant Bussola added. "People thought they were going to have to do the Heimlich."

"Did he," Vincent murmured, a thrill of anticipation running through his veins. The first time Ferretti had told him of Androushan, Lea had copied the hieroglyphs into a notebook, checked his translation twice, and then grinned. Even that had been a pale shadow of humor, made bleak by grief Vincent hadn't been able to fathom until it was too late.

He laughed.

Axel had sworn in fluent Ancient Egyptian. Among many, many other languages.

Xemnas set a linguist loose in the Multiverse. Axel learned to read Shakuen. Who knows what else?

He couldn't wait to find out.