After several minutes of effort, Kairi finally heard a satisfying crunch as she swung her head back and broke Axel's nose.

Immediately followed by "AAAaaaaaaaAAAAAAAaaaaaah!" and Kairi falling onto the sands of the Destiny Islands shoreline as Axel reflexively let go of her.

Which was then followed by a "Woo!" from Wakka, polite applause from Tidus and Selphie, and a concerned 'oh!' from Namine.

Kairi fought down a grin as she stood back up. She certainly wasn't proud of hurting Axel, but Riku had been right - escape moves were satisfying. They certainly would have been useful two weeks ago at the Keyblade Graveyard, when she had been caught in that Demon Tide -

Or when Xemnas had grabbed her. Or when Xehanort had put a keyblade through her back as Sora watched. Or when -

A moan from Axel reminded Kairi to focus on the here and now. "Cura!"

After casting the spell, Kairi helped Axel sit on the makeshift log bench with the others as his nose bent back into shape. Wakka watched with undisguised fascination. Magic - and dark portals and Heartless and talking mice - were no longer a secret on Destiny Islands, 'world order' notwithstanding. Walking down Main Street with a keyblade in hand was still frowned upon, but practice along the shoreline - with childhood friends who had figured everything out anyway - wasn't a problem.

Speaking of practice...Kairi looked up and saw that Roxas and Xion were still sparring with Riku, Keyblade-Master-in-Residence. Good. Riku had taken it upon himself to train the other keyblade-wielders of Destiny Islands. Xehanort was gone (as well as Xehanort, and Xehanort, and...), but there would always be Heartless. And Nobodies. And it wouldn't surprise Kairi if somebody opened a closet one morning and found a spare Xehanort stuffed inside, ready to restart the Keyblade War all on its own. Riku had set up his impromptu training camp three days after they'd returned to the Islands. Nobody had complained.

As Kairi watched, Riku performed a somersault-and-dash combo that sent Roxas and Xion into the sand. Roxas was up in an instant, activating a...something that sent a column of sand in the air, which he promptly launched himself from. Xion followed with the same move a second later. Even if Kairi couldn't follow what the more experienced 'students' were doing, it still made for a good show. Tidus and Namine cheered on Riku, while Selphie cheered for 'Kairi's other twin and her man ohmygosh they're perfect together.'

Moments like these made Kairi forget the events of the past month. Everything was perfect...

...until Tidus turned to Namine. "Hey, where's your keysword?"

Namine froze. Kairi froze. After a moment, Axel responded with a nasally, "It's a 'keyblade'. She doesn't have one."

Sensing the mood, Tidus put up his hands defensively. "I'm just asking because I'm still waiting for mine. Everybody gets one sooner or later, right?" He counted on all of his fingers. "You, Sora, Riku, Roxas, Xion, hot blue-haired girl, tall wide-pants guy, guy who isn't Sora or Roxas, that talking mouse, and the guy with the crazy red hair who you said kidnapped you that one time."

Axel smirked until the last one. "Wait, that was me. I kidnapped Kairi."

"I know."

"I'm sitting right here."

"Yep."

"How ungrateful! I'll have you know - while you were lounging around on the beach here - Kairi and I were working together, keyblades in hand, fighting the forces of evil!"

"Is that why you didn't bring her back?"

"She's here now, isn't she? It's like I didn't kidnap her at all."

"That's not how it works!"

It was at that moment that Wakka decided to be completely unhelpful. Turning to Namine, he said, "So why don't you have a 'keyblade'? Were you out of town when they were handin' them out?"

Namine looked sheepish. "You aren't just given a keyblade. You have to be chosen. You have to be worthy -"

Tidus shook his head. "Like the Kairi-napper over there? That can't be the right. Maybe there are only ten. Or somebody stole yours. Or you have to search for one on an epic journey."

Selphie suddenly straightened up, stars in her eyes. "Ooh, maybe Riku can help you find one! He's a 'keymaster' -"

"Keyblade Master."

"- and you could be his apprentice! Except he doesn't want an apprentice; he says Sora can help you instead 'cause Sora's cheerful and not broody and always helps everybody. But Sora's not back yet, and you don't want to wait. Riku helps you look for your keyblade anyway 'cause he doesn't want you to get yourself hurt, and you find it, and he's all 'I couldn't see it before, but you're really something special! And pretty!', and - "

Selphie proceeded to describe the master/apprentice relationship in graphic detail, not noticing the increasingly mortified look on Namine's face.

At the description of Sora, Kairi tried to hide her discomfort. He was still missing, and there had been disagreement on how to handle the situation. Donald and Goofy were ready to hop into the Gummi Ship and search immediately. Yen Sid felt Sora 'deserved the opportunity' to return on his own. Terra thought that was a terrible idea, given what he and his friends had gone through, and he had no qualms about saying so. King Mickey was quick to defend Yen Sid, and...In the end, Riku had been the voice of reason:

"Give Sora a month. Assuming he doesn't wash up on Destiny Islands on his own, I'll be first on the Gummi Ship to start looking," Riku said, ignoring the indignant squawk from Donald. "But we just survived the second Keyblade War. None of us are prepared for what could be a very long journey through the Ocean Between. Let Mickey and Yen Sid look for a starting point while we get ready. Besides, Sora can take care of himself. I'm sure we'll find him taking a nap on the World of Infinite Sunshine and Puppies. It wouldn't be the first time."

Two more weeks to go. Kairi felt she was handling it well. She was no stranger to waiting on Sora.

...although she was planning to tie him up as soon as he gets back.

...which wouldn't work since he could summon his keyblade and cut himself loose, but he'd get the point. Maybe.

"- so you go into battle alone, and there's a million of those black shadowy things, and you get hurt, and Riku shows up at the last second and saves you. He's all 'I realized I couldn't live without you', and –"

"Whoa, somebody's had a lot of time to think about this." Tidus said. "Sounds like you're the one who wants a keyblade, Selph. And maybe Riku too."

"What? No, I wasn't -"

"It's cool, we get it," Wakka said. "Riku's big and handsome, plus he's got a sword and magic powers. A lot of girls are gonna fall for that. Don't worry, we'll support you."

"I am not crushing on Riku, Wakka! Although I'm beginning to think you might be!"

Kairi laughed. Axel laughed. Namine didn't.

As Axel laughed, he noticed with satisfaction that he could breathe through his nose again. The back of Kairi's skull was hard, as skulls tend to be.

Namine wasn't laughing. Weird. She was usually the first to -

Are you still all alone in this white room? Doesn't it drive you mad? The room could use a splash of red, and - well, here I am! One problem solved. As for you - you need a good laugh. I would tell you a joke, but I seem to have misplaced my sense of humor. Now that drives me mad. We're all mad here. Except for you. How long will that last, I wonder?

Oh! Here's a joke: you have two opportunities to escape, or you would if they weren't busy downstairs trying to murder each other.

Does it hurt, Namine? Watching your two childhood friends fight, all because of you? You have my sympathies. From the heart.

Axel briefly closed his eyes. He hadn't been that Axel for a long time, even as a Nobody. Today's practice must've worn him out more than he'd realized.

When he opened his eyes, Namine was looking at him. Uh oh. "Axel, how did you get your keyblade?"

"I, ah, asked the old man for one. Yen Sid."

"Yen Sid just handed a keyblade to you? All you have to do is ask? Nobody told me it worked that way." Namine looked hurt.

"Well, not exactly. He gave this long speech, said the keyblade had been 'bequeathed', and then told me to make the keyblade appear on my own. It would 'reveal itself when I was ready.' I waved my arms for days."

Axel held out his hand, and Flame Liberator appeared on cue. "Yen Sid was more surprised than I was when this baby finally showed up."

Wait a minute. "You think he was just trying to get rid of me? I flail around for a few weeks, give up, and the old man's like, 'the stars weren't aligned, you weren't chosen, terrible shame, now get out of my tower.' "

Namine didn't answer. Just turned back to the Riku show-off match, which had already ended. Roxas and Xion were talking. Riku took a moment to stretch, then recalled his keyblade from where it had landed on the other end of the 'practice ring'. With a flick of the wrist and a flash of light, Braveheart was back in its master's hand. On the bench, Namine mimicked the motions.

Axel felt his heart lurch. Ow.

Time to act nonchalant. "I think there are too many keyblades already. Pretty sure 'Master' Riku over there doesn't enjoy handling four students at once. He hasn't had time for me all day."

"Do you want to keep practicing with me?" Kairi said.

Axel scooted away from Kairi in an exaggerated fashion. "You are trying to destroy my face. I'm good, thanks. I'm just saying it would've been nice if one of the other masters had stuck around."

Kairi shrugged. "It couldn't be helped. King Mickey had to return to his castle. Aqua's restoring the Land of Departure with Terra and Ven."

"They know I was joking about the whole 'Ven-must-stay-50-feet-away-from-Roxas-at-all-times' rule, right?"

"Yes, they know."

"The Islands wouldn't actually explode. Really, merging with your copy is practically a rite of passage around here."

"Is that why you're not going by 'Lea' anymore?"

"That's right. I've got Lea's natural good looks and charisma, combined with Axel's skills and devil-may-care attitude. I'm more than the sum of my parts. I was thinking 'Axallee' or 'Reno-xel', or maybe 'Lexel', but 'Axel' was shortest."

"It's not because Roxas and Xion both know you by that name?"

"Completely unrelated."

Axel's vision of Kairi was suddenly blocked as Xion sat in the space between them. Axel dramatically pulled her into a hug and ruffled her hair.

"Aah!"

"Speak of the Xion, and she shall appear! Heh. Which it had actually been that easy."

Xion squirmed out of Axel's grasp and smoothed her hair down, pouting.

"Quitting early? Did -"

Giving up so soon? I thought you were going to give us a show!

"- Riku get a good hit in?"

"Roxas wanted to spar with Master Riku on his own."

Kairi crossed her legs. "Again? He does that every day. Is he planning to take the Mark of Mastery exam?"

Xion crossed her legs. "He won't tell me."

"Nah, Roxas is just in a hurry," Tidus said. "Riku's always been the best. Wakka, Selphie and I used to fight him three-on-one, and he'd whip us all. If Roxas wants to get stronger, challenging Riku one-on-one's the way to go. Every blitzer knows: when you got the ball..."

"...you gotta score!" Wakka and Xion cheered.

Wait, what? "Xion, what's a 'blitzer'? And how do you know about it?"

In an instant, Wakka was leaning over towards Xion, nearly knocking Selphie over. "You're a blitzball fan? Wanna go to the first game with us? I get four tickets every year. It's me an' Tidus, an' it used to be Sora and Riku too, but they're out of town all the time now, and Selphie just doesn't understand -"

"Easy, Wakka! You're scaring her. You gotta play it cool." Tidus straightened his shirt. "Like this: So Xion, we've got extra tickets to the first blitzball game. Want to go with us? They're really great seats, and it's gonna be an amazing season, I can feel it, and we've gone every year since I was eight, and you would be the first girl to go with us, ever, and -"

Xion summoned her keyblade.

"...you have plenty of time to think about it. Just let us know."

Xion let her keyblade vanish. "Axel, blitzball's a team sport you play in the water with that ball that Wakka's holding. It's really popular around here."

"Huh. You're catching on to the local customs fast. And I never guessed you'd be into sports." Axel was definitely bringing his frisbee to practice tomorrow.

"...neither did I." Xion looked confused. "I know I've watched the game before, but that can't be right. Preseason doesn't start until the middle of next month."

"Well, you must be some kind of fan, if you're counting down to the preseason."

"...how did I know when preseason would start?"

"Maybe you had to reschedule a romantic evening with your boyfriend?" said Selphie. "He better make it up to you!"

"That could be it. Maybe. What's a 'romantic evening'?"

Riku sidestepped, then stood in place as another of Roxas's swings went wide. Roxas wasn't slowing down - if anything, he seemed to have more energy, now that it was just the two of them - but he wasn't scoring any hits either. Odd. Roxas had beaten him before. Was he losing focus, or -

The keyblade is not a bludgeon. You must trust it. If you rely solely on your own strength - or the DARKNESS! - you will fail.

As it often did, Riku's subconscious responded in the grandiose voice of Xenahort's Heartless. It wasn't a problem. Riku had long ago made peace with the darkness in his heart - plus he'd recently watched the Seeker of Darkness literally fade from existence, so he definitely wasn't possessed again. Any pronouncements of DARKNESS! were just a side-effect of carrying that drama queen in his head for over a year. It was actually kind of funny.

Riku casually dodged another slash. Roxas wasn't getting any better. With a figure-eight move, Riku disarmed Roxas and pointed Braveheart at his neck. Practice over.

Riku lightly bopped Roxas on the head. "You're treating Oathkeeper like a stick again. It's better than that."

"I'm sorry."

"You're strong. So's your keyblade. Both are important." That sounded right. Riku really should have asked Aqua and Mickey for pointers on how a Keyblade Master is supposed to talk.

Roxas summoned his keyblade back to his hand, and then stared at it. The keyblade stared back. Presumably.

Riku patted Roxas on the shoulder, and then started walking towards their friends.

"Can we go one more round?"

Seriously? "You trying to beat my old record against Sora?"

Did Roxas just flinch? Nah. "I just want to get stronger."

"We'll continue tomorrow. Moderation is important. Come on, the others are waiting."

'Moderation' was a good Master-ish word. Riku was making a list.

Everybody on the log bench looked at Riku expectantly as he and Roxas walked up, eager for him to announce the end of the day's training session. Out of all of Riku's tasks as Master, inspirational speeches were the hardest. Every day should have something different: a reflection on personal growth, or an observation on the nature of light and DARKNESS!, or a reminder of the importance of friendship.

As he often had during the past two weeks, Riku wished Sora was around to do the talking.

Taking a deep breath, Riku said:

"Alright, good practice today."

Nailed it.

Axel cheered. "Ice cream time!"

Kairi stood up. "Riku, can I have a word with you? Axel, you too."

"...except for me, apparently."

"Relax. It's not like the ice cream's gonna melt before you get to it."

"That is exactly what will happen!" Axel said, pouting but staying next to Kairi anyway as everybody else headed for the canoes that would take them back to the main island.

Once the others were out of earshot, Kairi turned to Riku. "Can you give me an update on everybody's progress?"

"Yes ma'am. It'll be on your desk at 0600." On Kairi's glare, Riku laughed. "Let's see...you and Axel are doing fine for your experience level."

Axel rubbed his nose but said nothing.

"Xion, not so much. I know she's skilled, but she keeps getting distracted and making mistakes."

"And Roxas?"

"He fights well, and he's certainly self-motivated. But he's having trouble working alongside others. Not like that, I mean...he's not on bad terms with anybody. He might be afraid of hurting you guys. He holds back when he has a sparring partner unless it's me. "

Kairi frowned. "It's more than that. When Xion and Roxas first reappeared, they were inseparable. Remember when we flew back to Destiny Islands? Roxas almost panicked when he thought there wasn't room for him to sit next to Xion. Like they had to stay in contact or one of them would disappear."

"Well, they had just returned from the dead." Or from another person's heart. Or from Xehanort brainwashing. Whatever.

"But now they never sit together. And Roxas is barely talking to Xion at all. Could it be a problem with the replica bodies? They're getting, I don't know, magical feedback if they get too close to each other? Or hypersensitive to touch?"

"That would explain why Roxas is isolating himself. And why Xion is distracted. And Namine - I put my hand on her shoulder yesterday, and she nearly jumped out of her skin."

"Hmm."

"Or maybe two weeks isn't enough of an adjustment period for a return from the dead. Kairi, what's this about? Is Ansem the Wise asking about us again?"

"No. Well, yes, but I'm worried too. We practice 'together' every day, but we're never actually together. You're a Master, and Roxas and Xion both have over a year of real-life experience, and then there's Axel and me. We're all on different levels. I don't want Roxas and Xion to feel like they're separate from us. And Namine doesn't have a keyblade at all."

"Wait, since when does Namine want a keyblade?" Riku had spent nearly a year with her while she had restored Sora's memories. Not once had she expressed an interest in fighting Heartless.

"She hasn't said anything. But she's the only one who sits on the sidelines at every practice."

"You're right...and a keyblade might choose her at some point, I guess," Riku said. "That's actually kind of disappointing. I mean, I'm sure she's worthy. It's just...after everything we've been through, I was glad one of our close friends wouldn't be in danger all the time."

"Somebody to come home to after a long day fighting Heartless?" Axel said.

"Yeah, something like that. Why are you smiling?"

"No reason."

Riku turned just in time to see Kairi wipe a grin off her own face. "The point is, all three of them are former Nobodies," she said. "They all have hearts for the first time. That can't be easy."

Riku nodded. "Not to mention they all just returned from the dead. None of them had physical form until two weeks ago."

Kairi and Riku both looked at Axel.

"Oh, I get it. I'm the resident Nobody expert. Alright then..."

After a pause, Axel said "Being a Somebody is pretty easy for me. I have regrets - I'm not expecting an invitation to Even's next birthday party, that's for sure - and I'll have them memorized forever."

Did Axel just flinch? Nah.

"But I was a Somebody before I was a Nobody. I had a childhood. Frisbees. Isa."

Axel gestured wildly as he spoke. "Roxas, Xion, Namine...their 'childhoods' came from Xemnas. Roxas had, what, a week of normal in that digital Twilight Town? Namine was locked in a castle full of people who were literally unable to care for her. And Xion -" He stopped. "Her situation didn't improve until she died. Sayin' stuff like that makes me wish I didn't have my heart back. But it's true."

Riku had never seen Axel upset before. It was...off.

"And...That's all I got." Axel said, rubbing his eyes. "The old Axel was good at taking Nobodies apart, not putting them back together. I'm no different. Sorry."

"Don't be. You've told us plenty," Kairi said, "and we're going to make this right. I'll ask Ansem if there are any known issues with replicas. In the meantime, we need to think of activities that all six of us can participate in as a full group. No different levels of experience. Nobody gets left out."

Kairi pointed towards the canoes. "Now go! Your ice cream is melting!"

"Yes ma'am!"

As Axel scurried off to the remaining canoes, Riku looked at Kairi's dramatically outstretched arm. "I think Axel's rubbing off on you."

Kairi put her arm down and giggled. "I'm okay with that. As Sora would say, all our hearts are connected."

"Is that why you're focused on helping everybody?"

"Shouldn't I be? They're our friends."

"No, it's great, it's just - Tell me you aren't doing this because you feel like you owe us something. This isn't about Xemnas grabbing you, or the forging of the ki-blade, or Sora disappearing - "

"It's not."

Did Kairi just flinch? Nah. She was smiling.

"Yen Sid said I'm still a Princess of Heart. It's time I started acting like it."