Title: The Fatal Believer

Author: comeandgetmebabe

Disclaimer: All characters belong to Square Enix and Disney. This story contains homosexuality between two men, so if you don't enjoy that kindly don't read, I have enough to deal with. I am making no money off this at all, although I will gladly accept it.

Summary: "Don't let your guard down. Axel will stop at nothing to turn you into a Heartless." Still, Sora lets Axel join his party with the promise of seeing his friends again. But what if that was a warning to be heeded? (Axel/Sora. Axel/Roxas. Riku/Sora)

NOTE: Rejoice! I have written…AN OUTLINE!

Which is probably what I should have done for all my other stories, but I…am not bright.

So, GENTLEMEN, BEHOLD! It is a fic of monumental proportions. People who have read my other stories know that I enjoy incorporating aspects of the actual game into my stories, which is why this is going to be so infernally long—this is basically the whole second half of the game. Good for you, more to read. Bad for me, since I'll probably have to run back and forth from my computer to my PS2 to check things in the game, since reading through walkthroughs is REALLY tedious.

Those who, for some odd reason, are thinking of considering this a walkthrough obviously need to finish the damn game. It isn't a guide to the special "Axel Joins Your Party!" adventure, because that adventure doesn't exist. I mean, you know…there's that one part…at the end where you fight with him but…fuck it, you know what I mean.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy. Hey, check it out! I wrote a real, marginally serious disclaimer! Go me!

Enjoy

/o/O/o/

Sora hacked at the last Nobody, squinting slightly. The sand in the aptly named Sandlot of Twilight town had billowed into clouds during the battle and some had been trying desperately to get into his eyes. He stood victorious and flashed a grin at Donald and Goofy when he heard the clapping from behind him.

"Impressive."

Startled, Sora turned to face another hooded figure. He glared but didn't yet raise his Keyblade. The man spoke.

"By the way, have you seen a man named Axel? I expect he's here somewhere?"

Sora's eyes narrowed. "Like I care." He raised his Keyblade, prepared to fight.

The man continued as if Sora hadn't spoken. "You see, Axel's no longer acting in our best interest.

"Is he with the Organization too?" asked Goofy, looking slightly perplexed.

"Yes," answered the man curtly.

"You havin' a fight?" quacked Donald.

Sora sneered, keeping his eyes on the man in black. "Not a very organized Organization…"

The man pointed sternly at Sora. "Don't let your guard down," he said in a low tone. "Axel will stop at nothing to turn you into a Heartless."

Sora smirked. Who did this guy think he was kidding? "Gee, thanks for looking out for us, mister," he said as Donald and Goofy raised their weapons. "But I'm sure we can take care of ourselves just fine."

"Glad to hear it," said the man, and Sora could hear the smirk in his voice. "Axel aside…"

/o/

Oh wow, look at him.

Running up that path to the Dark Depths. Still panting from killing only a thousand Heartless. Like that's so hard. He couldn't kill a thousand Nobodies, I bet. Pathetic.

But you have to give him credit. Sora has a lot on his mind. Kairi's been kidnapped, something terrible has happened to Riku, apparently, and Mickey is off running away again. Confronting Xehanort, doing that 'good guy' thing he does. Poor little Sora. I kind of wanna pinch his cheeks and tell him everything gonna be A-okay, because he's the kind of kid you can do that to. He looks so very tired…

But hey, here come his friends! Donald and Goofy, back from whatever they were doing, probably fighting off fifty Heartless each. Very strong allies those two are. They exchange pleasantries, make sure no one's dead, and off they go, put the path to where they've spotted the king. And hey, what do you know, Big Ears is talking to Xehanort. Or Xemnas, as he's known to everyone else.

"Xehanort!" cries Mickey as Sora and Co. run up behind him.

Xemnas looks out at the decrepit castle before him, the one where Maleficent is supposedly haunting. "How long has it been since I've abandoned that name?" he muses in a low voice. Xemnas was never one for 'getting to the point.'

Sora, however, is. "Out with it, Nobody!" he yells. So angry. Jeez, the Keyblade master is supposed to be so happy and full of light, what brought all this negativity on. Oh, that's right. His friends are missing. Poor little Light Boy.

Xemnas doesn't even turn. "I know nothing of any Kairi," he says, still gazing at the twisted spires of the dark castle. "As for Riku…" now he turns, smirking at Sora, Boy Wonder. "Perhaps you should as your king." And the look of Xemnas's face darkens.

Sora looks like he desperately wants to make a comeback, but those words stop him. Ask his king? He asked him before. Should he ask again? Or is the Nobody just messing with his mind?

Before he has a chance to ask the now very uncomfortable King Mickey, Ole Big Ears decides to be heroic. "Stop!" squeaks the mouse king, and he barrels after Xemnas, jumping into the portal through darkness the Organization leader has just opened.

Sora runs after the king, but the portal has already disappeared. He waves his hand out wildly in a desperate attempt to go into the black hole, but alas, he cannot.

Oh man, now look at this.

"He's gone…" whimpers Sora, his big blue eyes falling into a look of despair. He actually falls on the ground, the big baby. He bangs his fist on the rocks, obviously upset, but at least he doesn't, you know, cry or anything. That'd be too much.

Goofy comes over and places a hand on Sora's shoulder, trying to give the boy some form of comfort. What a good friend. You have to wonder why Blue Eyes is so hung up on Riku and Kairi. What kind of friends were they to him? Riku fought him, beat him, nearly murdered him, stole his damsel in distress, set Sora on a wild goose chase. Riku got himself filled with rage and darkness and evil and depression and fear and violence and took it all out on Sora. He made poor Sora traipse through a castle of memories, an adventure the poor, dear boy doesn't even remember.

Riku played with little Sora's feelings, made the quiet whispers of thoughts that a fourteen year old has for his older, wiser best friend seem shameful. Made Boy Wonder keep them a secret. That damn Riku, he made Sora fall in love with him. And then he made Sora project these feelings on Kairi. Because Riku couldn't tell Blue Eyes that it was he that Riku loved, not Kairi. Riku couldn't find a simple way to tell Sora he wanted him, to kiss and hold and touch him for all eternity, in light or darkness. Riku made Sora laugh and he made Sora cry. He made Sora feel anger and despair, joy and euphoria.

He made Sora leave him behind a door that could never be reopened. He broke poor little Sora's heart.

But Sora's still looking for him. That's just the kind of guy he is, little tyke.

Almost makes me sick.

He's also looking for Kairi, because at the end of the day, Kairi is a sweet girl. She's kind, caring, compassionate, other various words starting with the 'kuh' sound. Little Kairi had to go and get herself kidnapped, and now Sora has to, once again, run after his Princess of Heart, his own personal damsel in distress. Like he did before. Like he'll undoubtedly do again. You gotta love a kid who's prepared to do so much for two people who really haven't done that much for him.

You really do have wonder what's the big deal about Riku and Kairi when you compare them Donald and Goofy. After all, those two only left Sora once, once, just because they were following orders. And then they disobeyed those orders to come back to Blue Eyes. Those are good friends. They're the ones who've helped him out more; who've dealt with his whole complex over freakin' Riku and Kairi. And they're the ones who are standing with him, right now, as he bangs his hand on the rocks that made up the Dark Depths and throws his little teenage tantrum.

"Sora, Goofy," quacks Donald. He looks like he wants to say something more, but then he gives a quack of surprise and looks at the castle. There are no more Heartless. It's completely empty. Well, this is a strange turn of events.

Goofy voices everyone's thoughts. "What's going on?"

"Way to fall right into their trap."

And now, ladies and gentlemen, the other star of our divine comedy. Apart from Boy Wonder, of course.

Sora and Co. turn to see a painfully thin young man leaning against the rock face, arms crossed, staring directly at the Trio of Good. His hair his spiked and red, splashes of black at the roots. He has little diamond tattoos under each eye, black like his coat, and what eyes those are. Acidic and green, dangerous and alluring. And they're boring directly into Sora's own shocked blue ones. The look on the man's face is stern, very different from the look that usually adorns his features: cockiness.

Sora and Co. run towards him, and get into their fighting stances. Obviously men in black coats are not very high on their list of "People We Want to Talk Things Over With Peacefully."

The man leans foreword and begins walking towards them. "Come on, it's a set up by Organization XIII. Xemnas is using you to destroy the Heartless—that's his big master plan."

"Xemnas?" squawks Donald, never the brightest bird in the flock.

The man tries not to roll his eyes. "The guy you just saw. He's their leader!" he cries out, exasperated. He taps his temple. "Got it memorize? X-E-M-N-A-S." He even spells it for them.

A look of dawning comprehension on all of the Trio's faces and Goofy says, "Organization XIII wants to get rid of the Heartless?"

Redhead gets that look of cockiness on his face again. It looks much better than the stern one. "Man you're slow. Every Heartless slain with that Keyblade releases a captive heart. That is what the Organization is after."

"So what are those guys gonna do with the hearts?" quacks Donald.

The man snorts and smirks at them. "I'm not telling."

"Tell us!" shouts Donald, if you can understand him.

Sora, who's been oddly quiet this whole time, finally speaks up. "You…you're the one who kidnapped Kairi."

How he figures this out, I don't know.

"Bingo," says the man. "The name's Axel. Got it memorized?"

That line gets really old really fast.

"Where is Kairi?" Sora pleads. He's not even holding up his Keyblade anymore, the moron.

Axel, for the first time, looks slightly uncomfortable. He scratches his forehead.

"Please!" cries Sora. "Just tell me!" And he looks so desperate, it's almost as if he's asking about Riku. And who knows, maybe he is.

Axel closes his eyes for a moment, then looks at the sunset sky. "Look, about Kairi…" he looks Sora in the eye. "I'm sorry."

"Axel!" a voice from nowhere snaps. In between Sora and Axel appears the man who warned them of Axel in the first place.

"Uh oh!" hisses Axel. His eyes narrow and darkness begins to surround him.

Sora runs foreword, but the man with the X on his forehead throws his arm out to stop him. The blue haired man looks like he wants to say something, but Sora ducks under his arm, sprints foreword and leaps into the portal of darkness.

The blue haired man eye's widen a bit in surprise. "Sora!" yell Donald and Goofy, running foreword. But the portal has already disappeared.

But not the people inside of it.

/o/

"You! Stop!" yells Sora running out of the portal into some strange inter-dimensional walkway. The symbol of the Nobody's flies around him through eerie orange and green lights. Axel looks shocked.

"You! How did you…what did you…" Red apparently doesn't know how to respond.

"Where's Kairi!" yells Sora, brandishing his Keyblade. "Take me to her!"

"Listen, Sora, I can't," says Axel. "I've kind of…made a lot of people mad at the Organization, they're not gonna want me wandering around their headquarters anymore."

"I don't care what they want or what you did!" yells Sora. "Take me to Kairi! Please!" he adds, pleading again.

Axel stares at Sora for a moment. He doesn't seem to know what to say. Then a sly smile graces his thin lips and he shrugs his shoulders. "I don't know what to say, kid, I can't help you."

"Yes you can!" shouts Sora.

"I mean, for all I know, they've already…you know…" he grins evilly at Blue Eyes.

"They've already what?!" Sora cries.

"You know," Axel's grin grows wider. "Killed her. They don't really need her after all. They just need you."

"What…they…NO!" yells Sora, eyes widening in panic.

"I think I heard something about some guy named Riku running around their headquarters, though," says Axel, taking his eyes off Sora to examine his coat cuffs. "But by now they've probably caught him and are doing who knows what do him." He looks up, straight into Sora's eyes. Green gazing into blue. And Axel, jerk that he is, he smiles at Sora, he grins at him. Shows all of his teeth. And that pushes Boy Wonder over the edge.

Sora lets out a strangled scream of rage and charges at Axel. This is very out of character for our little hero, giving into his anger like this. But I guess with the combined thoughts of losing Riku and Kairi…

Feelings make people do crazy things.

Axel smirks and pulls his flaming chakram out of thin air. And the battle begins. Sora doesn't remember, but he's fought Axel before, both as himself in the Castle Oblivion and as his Nobody. Sora hacks and slashes at Axel, trying to break him, to cut him, to kill him, all the while being patiently blocked by the Flurry of Dancing Flames. Sora, whose fury has reached new heights at this moment, shouts out a blizzard spell that hits Axel in the stomach. Axel gasps, chokes on his own shocked exclamation and his flaming weapons extinguish. Sora leaps into the air, reading to bring down a finishing move that will surely kill the redhead.

Axel flings his chakram at Blue Eyes. It hits him in the stomach.

Sora screams and falls to the ground, a few paces short of where Axel is lying. The redhead pulls himself up and saunters over to Sora. He kneels as Sora tries to catch his breath, tries to perform a cure spell on his bleeding abdomen. Axel lazily picks up the chakram where it has fallen next to our hero and presses the other one against Sora's neck.

"Wow, Sora, you sure are strong," drawls Axel with a sly grin. "Pretty scary when you get worked up." Sora tries hard not to breathe. If his Adam's apple moves even a millimeter, Axel's chakram would cut his throat in two. He can't even perform magic to mend his belly, which was steadily bleeding. "How about this. I'll take you to see Kairi…"

Sora, that miserable, gullible idiot, he actually looks hopeful.

"…if you let me travel with you and your friends. When you get strong enough to take down the Organization, I'll zap you over to their stronghold and you can have your way with them and rescue your girlfriend. How 'bout that?" He moves his chakram a fraction of an inch away from Sora's throat so Boy Wonder can speak.

"Kairi's not my girlfriend!" is the first thing Sora spits out, his cheeks almost as red as Axel's hair. Axel smirks and leans down, his nose almost touching Sora's. Looking into Sora's blue, blue eyes.

"Is that a yes or a no?"

"Will you…" Sora struggles for words. No one has ever been this close to him before. "Will you help me find Riku too?"

"Sure, no problem," says Axel easily. "I can't take you through the darkness, though. That's probably mess with your light and we might run into an Organization member." Axel still hasn't moved his head. He's still so very, very close to Sora. Their breath is mingling. "So, whaddya say, Sora? Yes or no."

"You…" Sora gulps, his throat nearly pricking itself on the chakram's tip. "You promise to help me find them?"

"Promise." Axel grins.

"Promise?"

"I promise. Cross my heart, hope to die, whatever else you say, I promise." And Axel suddenly hauls himself upward into a standing position, holding out a hand to help Sora up. "Come on."

Sora sits up and quickly casts Cure on himself. His stomach heals up without even a scar left over. He gazes up at Axel, his gloved hand outstretched. Just the way Riku had, back on the island when the Darkness came.

Axel's eyes are so green. Not the jewel-like aquamarine of Riku's. Green, like the poison apple the queen gave to Snow White. Green like the color of envy. Green like a terrible, wondrous plan.

Sora takes Axel's hand.

/o/

Sora falls out of the portal to darkness and lands in the gummi ship with a thumb. Axel steps out of the hole much more gracefully.

"Sora!" yelps Goofy, looking incredibly relieved. See what a good friend he is, he's been worrying about Sora the whole time he was gone.

"What're you doing here?" Donald quacks dangerously, pointing his staff threateningly at Axel. Red is unperturbed.

"He invited me. So you better start treating me with some respect," says Axel smoothly, sitting in the chair normally used by Sora.

"It's okay Donald, I said he could come. He's gonna take us to Kairi and Riku as soon as we're stong enough." Donald looks affronted. Goofy looks worried.

"Gosh, Sora, are you sure we can trust him?" he whispers to Boy Wonder.

"I didn't have much of a choice," admits Sora. But he puts on a brave smile. That's another thing you have to love about Sora. I know if I'd just spent the last fifteen minutes fighting for my life and nearly died in the process, I would not be able to smile. He's so simple, Sora. "But he can help us out! And all three of us could take him down if he does anything…"

Sora is silent for a moment. Then he remembers where they all were when he'd jumped after Axel. "Hey, how'd you two get here?!"

"Gwarsh, Sora!" says Goofy, and he goes on to explain how the guy with an X on his face, Saïx (Axel stiffens at the name), called up a bunch of Heartless and said that they were using the escaped hearts to form Kingdom Hearts. How that would let the Nobodies become whole.

"But that means!" interrupts Sora because he has no tact. "That means that…that…the Keyblade…"

And once again, Blue Eyes has a crisis.

"No…what…is everything we've done…" he looks up at Goofy with his huge, blue eyes. "Maybe everything we've done…maybe it was all for nothing…" he looks away, down at the floor of the gummi ship. "What am I supposed to do if I can't use the Keyblade."

Axel snorts and rolls his eyes, for once keeping his big mouth shut. Donald shoots him a glare, but the redhead ignores it. So does Sora.

"Aw, don't worry Sora! Listen to what happened next!" and Goofy continues to explain how the Heartless only listen to who's strongest, how they're listening to the Organization now. He says how, just as a huge group of Heartless were about to attack him and Donald, Maleficent spoke. ("Maleficent?!" "Let him go on with the story, Sora!" "Sorry Donald…") Maleficent sucked Donald and Goofy into what they thought was the realm of darkness.

"No it wasn't," says Axel

"Huh? What?" Sora turns to Axel, confused. "How do you know?"

"I know what the realm of darkness is like. From what…" Axel seems to be having trouble accepting Goofy's existence. Which is good, because Goofy, by all laws of physics, shouldn't exist. "From what he says, that was just some in between place Maleficent sent them to keep them safe. Trust me, that's not the realm of darkness. I remember when—"

"Yeah, but there was someone there!" Donald cuts him off, determined to ignore Axel's presence. "It was another guy in a black coat, like this guy," Donald jerks his thumb at Red. "But he didn't do anything. He just gave us this box." And from under his seat, Donald pulls out a plain white box.

Sora takes the box from Donald and examines it. "Seems normal," he says, turning it over.

"So can we open it now?" asks Donald, looking excited. He's obviously been waiting for this for a while, stupid bird.

"I guess so…" says Sora. Donald snatches it from his hands, looking entirely too eager.

"Are you sure you wanna open…" begins Goofy.

Donald rips the package open like a kid on Christmas morning. Axel rolls his eyes once again. He's obviously wondering if traveling with them is such a good idea. They're all kind of…stupid.

"…That?" finishes Goofy. The Trio peer inside and even Axel leans over from his (Sora's) chair to look inside. And Axel, upon seeing the contents, gasps.

Inside the box is a photograph and a sky blue ice cream pop. Donald hands the photo to Sora, who scrutinizes it. Axel leaves the chair and stands behind Sora, once again much too close. Sora feels his breath hitch in his throat. He needs to tell Axel to back off, but he can't…

Goofy, determined to accept Axel into the group (if Sora says he's part of their team, then by Golly he's part of the team) looks over Sora's other shoulder at the photo. The dog can't help but notice how shocked Axel looks.

"Gwarsh, it's the gang from Twilight Town," says Goofy. "There's Hayner, Pence, Olette…and…uh…um…"

"Roxas," says Sora, forgetting about Red for a moment. And for a split second, the shocked look on Axel's face is replaced with one of utmost longing. Then it goes back to being bored and sly. That's Axel for you. Red goes back and slithers into Sora's seat once more, leaving Boy Wonder with his friends on the floor.

"You know him?" asks Donald. It's obvious he's asking Sora.

"No…" murmurs Sora, still staring at the photo. "The name just popped into my head…this is Roxas."

If any of them bother to look, which they don't, they would notice Axel's hands clenching into fists at the sound of that name. Then slowly unclenching when the Trio turns their attention away from the photograph.

Donald takes a lick of the ice pop and is happy to report that it is both salty and sweet at the same time. This combination seems as though it would be disgusting, but the duck is obviously enjoying himself.

He, Goofy, and Axel all jump when the ice pop flies out of his hand (or wing, I can't tell with Donald) and Sora's Keyblade appears in his hand. This ice pop is another item to open a gateway. Starting their journey anew.

And the ceiling opens up and Axel is sure they're all going to be sucked into space and die, but it just turns into a strange gold-ish whirlwind. Sora rears back and does his strange dance with the Keyblade while Donald, Goofy, and Axel look on. Axel, who's been strangely quiet since the photo, watches in awe as the Keyblade master opens a new route to the stars. He's never seen the Keyblade used like that before.

Axel has only seen the Keyblade used to destroy. Never to create.

Sora finishes and lands on the floor of the ship once more. He grins at his compatriots. "Come on! We gotta go look for Kairi!"

Axel snorts. He realizes, as you should too, that it's not really Kairi Sora's gunning for.

It is at this moment that Sora notices Axel is still sitting in his seat. "Hey," says Sora, eyes narrowing slightly and smile leaving face. "That's my seat. I can't fly the ship if I'm not sitting there."

Axel looks around the cockpit dismissively. "Then where am I gonna sit?"

"The floor!" squawks Donald, pointing at the ground.

"Naaahh, that's not really my thing. I like it here," Axel smirks at Sora. "You sit on the floor."

"Axel…" says Sora, losing patience. "I said you could travel with us but you have to go by our rules. That's my seat. Right now you have to sit on the floor. Deal with it."

Axel's green eyes once again bore into Sora's and Sora can't help but feel like he's being x-rayed. Like Axel is looking to his very soul.

"Tell you what," says Axel. "You give me that photo, I give you this chair."

"Huh?!" exclaims the Trio. You always have to repeat stuff for those three.

"You give me photo, I give you chair. Got it memorized?"

"Why do you want that?!" asks Goofy, dumbfounded.

"What's it to you?" snaps Axel. "Either gimme the photo or you're not going to any new worlds. And if you don't go to new worlds you don't get stronger. And if you don't get stronger…" he smirks at Sora once again. "You know."

Sora glowers at Axel and begrudgingly hands the Nobody the photograph, ignoring Jiminy's pleads that he needs the information for his journal. Axel stands up and saunters past Sora, just barely brushing past the boy. But Sora can feel him pass, feel the unnatural, flaming heat radiate off the older man and he shivers against his will. He doesn't know why. Plenty of people have brushed by him before. The only time he ever felt that shiver was the last time Riku…

Sora decides not to think about it. Because that would mess with the simplicity of his journey.

The little retard.

"I wonder who left this stuff for you guys…" Axel muses as he slides down the back wall of the cockpit. The photo his held tightly in his hand, creasing.

"Gwarsh, yeah," says Goofy. "Wonder if they're some sorta clue…"

"Who do YOU think left them Sora?" says Donald in a much louder voice than usual. As if volume alone would make Axel's presence go unnoticed.

"Riku?" suggests Sora, pressing some buttons on the console. He can feel Axel's eyes on him through the back of his neck.

"Ya think?" asks Goofy.

"You said it was a guy in black…I dunno, it's just a feeling I've got. Who else would leave it for us? Nobody in the Organization."

Axel gives a small cough but says nothing.

Sora flies towards the Land of Dragons, Axel's eyes on him the whole time. It's like Axel is looking for something inside of him. And Sora can't help but remember how that guy, Demyx, kept calling him Roxas…

Hmm.

Looks like Boy Wonder isn't as dumb as I gave him credit for.

He might be catching on.

Because Axel would never follow him around if he didn't want something out it. And that something isn't a stupid photo, oh no.

It's the person in the photo.

The person who, unbeknownst to Sora, is in him.

Roxas. That's all Axel wants.

Poor, stupid little Sora. He would have done well to heed the blue haired Nobody's warning.

Don't let your guard down. Axel will stop at nothing to turn you into a Heartless.

Poor, sweet, stupid, loving, gullible, naïve little Sora.

And poor Axel.

He has no idea what he's getting himself into. You have to feel bad for him. All he wants is his "best friend" back. And you can interpret the quotes for yourself.

So now, look at them. They're off. Flying high in their little gummi ship, ready to go on their adventure. Ready to take on a universe of Darkness and despair without even knowing how much they're about to bring upon themselves. The Trio flying off to adventure.

Only now they're a Quartet.

/o/O/o/

So, what do you think? I know this one is kind of choppy, but I promise it'll get better. More explanations and stuff like that. How Roxas and Axel met and fell in whatever form of they can "feel," all that jazz.

And I know, isn't it weird, DONALD AND GOOFY IN A STORY?! HEAVEN FORBID!

Also, in case you're wondering, no the narrator is not me. You'll find out who that is soon enough. Try guessing! I won't tell you if you're right, but it'd be nice to see if anyone can get it.

MUSIC DROP!

Remember Guns N' Roses? Yeah, me neither, but they did a great cover of Sympathy for the Devil, which is my favorite Rolling Stones song (along with Gimme Shelter and Jumping Jack Flash). Check all of those out if you want, but the GNR one if my pick of the day.

Review please!