Once again, your comments are greatly welcomed, and I am very thankful for the positive feedback so far. This is another short chapter, I wanted to write more, but it seemed like an appropriate place to cut off. Also, I just need to say that this was a blast to write, both Diz and Axel are extremely fun characters to write dialogue for.

(-------------------------------------------- Rulers hate me)

Diz took a moment to admire the ring of fire enclosing the pair, a spectacular display of pure power, and in this case, rage.

"Magnificent, but tell me, what do you hope to accomplish fighting me here?" Diz wondered aloud. He turned his attention back to Axel, hoping to delve more into this most curious Nobody's psyche, to find that he had simply vanished.

However Axel was still very, very close. Moving through his wall of fire as easily as a fish in water.

"Are you simply trying to follow orders?" Diz continued to question, spinning a quick three-sixty and raising another transparent wall to deflect a chakram Axel had sent flying from his fiery camouflage.

"Or is there a different reason for this sudden display of…" his sentence was cut short as Axel suddenly leaped from the flaming wall, both weapons brought down with such force that a small explosion erupted from the point of impact, but Diz wasn't there. He had simply teleported a few feet away, perfectly unharmed. "Dare I say it, emotion?" He finished.

Fire erupting from the ground with every step, Axel sprinted right for Diz, one chakram swinging right for his red wrapped face. It never reached its mark, suddenly parried by a dull fizz of energy as a blue beam of light erupted from Diz's hand, used as a makeshift sword.

"You talk a lot," Axel muttered as his weapon pushed against the other, trying to force it wide.

"All in the pursuit of knowledge, my friend." Diz coolly replied, seemingly not strained in the least. "And you are a very curious thing indeed. I see it plainly in your face, you're worried about Roxas!" Ironically, just at that moment Axel's piercing green eyes had subconsciously drifted over to where Roxas lay, making sure he was unharmed. They swiveled forward immediately at the declaration. "Yes, honest worry. Honest friendship. For a being with no heart, you certainly seem to care about him quite a lot!"

"What are you saying?"

"That perhaps Nobodies aren't quite as heartless as we've been led to believe."

That certainly set Axel back on his heels a bit, and in that sudden moment of weakness Diz easily sent a tremor through the ground of his virtual reality, creating a small earthquake. It was more than enough to knock Axel to the ground, blue lightsabre trailing his throat all the way down.

"You can't beat me here," Diz declared in all confidence. "This is my world, after all." Flat on his back, deadly sword so close he could feel the heat radiating off his throat, Axel was in no position to argue. "However, I'll allow you to leave," Diz continued, and as he spoke, he raised his weapon. "Refuse to leave now however, and you'll be deemed as too much an annoyance. Roxas is the greater experiment by far."

Axel stared hard at that red bandaged face, and then with slow deliberation he got to his feet, even taking a moment to dust off his coat. He still had his dignity, after all. Testing the waters, he once again tried to open a portal of darkness, this time with far more success. Axel couldn't help but chuckle, his optimistic personality always seemed to come out when it was least appropriate.

"You're just too kind." He said with a vicious smile, the irony that he was massaging his slightly burned neck not lost on either of them. "Wish I knew what it was like to have a heart so big." He gazed over at Roxas, only furthering the obvious bitter irony. "Hell, I'd settle for one at all."

"Ho ho, you're a bold one!" Diz replied with a chuckle. "I'm far from a saint, however. Roxas stays with me." Axel gave a resigned shrug, and began to step through his portal. "Have you already forgotten what I've told you?" Diz continued, stopping the red head. "Your wish may not be as ridiculous as you think."

"You're completely bonkers," Axel's reply came without missing a beat. Diz, finding no rebuttal, simply conceded the point with a nod, which elicited another chuckle from the fiery red head. As Axel stepped through, the inferno of fire that had acted to set the stage of their brief battle dissipated. "I'll be back for Roxas," he warned, turning to face Diz again. "Got it memorized?" Then he was gone, whisked away as the portal closed.

"Indeed," Diz said to no one in particular. "In fact…" He glanced over at Roxas, the rough sketches of a plan beginning to take shape in his mind. "I'm counting on it."