Sorry for being away for so long! I had lost my inspiration for this story for a long while, but after replaying KH1 and KH:Days, I've regained my drive for writing this story and I have a new chapter for you all!

So, I hope everyone will forgive me for being away for too long, and will enjoy the chapter!

Also, for those of you who are interested in my writing, I've made a second AO3 account under the name Lyhtma. I've been having a really bad writers block, so I decided to work on a 100 words challenge using my own characters from a book I'm currently writing, so for those of you who like my writing and are interested in my Original Work, go check it out! works/1436812/chapters/3021685

And! FOR THOSE OF YOU WHO ARE SHERLOCK FANS, I've been a crocheter since I was nine years old, and recently I've been bored around the house, so... I made a crochet Sherlock plush/doll! I've been in need of a little money lately and thought that I could put my crocheting talent to good use, so, if you have the time, please at least check it out here at my new Etsy store! listing/186141667/crochet-sherlock-doll.

So, hope you enjoy!

~Snow.

I do not own Kingdom Hearts! Otherwise I would've said 'Screw Disney' and made Axel and Roxas a couple anyways!

The darkness never seemed to fade, never seemed to show just a glimmer of light.

A young woman with blue hair slowly made her way along the pathway laid out for her, too tired to care about the Shadows that lurked too far away, to tired and weak from staying in the darkness too long to summon a keyblade to her side.

Aqua's blue eyes glanced around wearily as she walked along the path, watching, and waiting.

The Shadows lurked not too far, their yellows eyes watching her as they twitched where they stood, hungering for her light heart. Or rather, they would've, if she hadn't stayed in the darkness for so long, long enough for a bit of the darkness to leak into her. Although she knew she could still summon her keyblade, if ever needed, though she knew she was too weak to fight the Shadows, the simple Shadows.

It seemed ages ago that she, Terra and Ventus had been talking about the stars, about what they wanted to do with their futures as Kayblade Masters. It seemed like years ago that they had taken on Xehnort, and failed...

Aqua's eyes looked ahead as something seemed to flicker in front of her and she frowned, walking towards the spot she hesitantly reached out, protecting her face moments later when a flash of white took over and the white faded away slowly.

Though when it had cleared away, Aqua looked around and took notice that she was no longer in the darkness. Instead, she was on a path with tall grass- that reached past her knees- surrounding it, and up ahead…

Her breath caught in her throat as her legs seemed to give away, her blue eyes wide as she looked at the building ahead.

The Castle… The Castle she had grown up in with Terra, being taken care of by their Master. The Castle that he had introduced them to Ven.

"Ven…" A memory surfaced to the front of her mind and Aqua forced herself up onto her feet, her balance a little wobbly as she quickly made her way towards the castle. Ven's body still lay inside, hidden deep within the Castle, a never ending maze… Unless you were a keyblade Master.

Aqua reached out, her trembling hands grasping the door handle tightly as she pushed the castle's doors open, stepping inside of the bleached white castle. Blinking to adjust her eyes to the light, Aqua saw- to her surprise- somebody walking through the doorway just up ahead. The door swinging swung behind the person only giving her a glimpse of silver hair.

Wondering who would ever step foot inside of the castle, Aqua shakily made her way over to the doorway as well. Grabbing the handle of this door as well, Aqua pulled the door open and walked inside.

Sora yawned as he stretched, blinking yellow eyes sleepily as he glanced around the white room that belonged to Roxas. His Nobody was still asleep, lying under Sora as the blonde slept soundly, eyelids flickering as Roxas dreamt.

Carefully- as to not wake his Nobody- the Heartless jumped off the bed, landing silently on the floor he snuck towards the door.

It had been twenty days since the deaths of the other Org. Members. And while most of the others had gotten over it, Demyx and Roxas were still a bit upset.

Though Demyx would smile and laugh again, his smile didn't quite reach his eyes, and his laugh still seemed a bit hollow. While Roxas too seemed a bit down, like his heart wasn't into everything as much anymore.

Even the afternoons at the clock tower seemed dull now; Sora himself felt the darkness and sadness that seemed to seep around Roxas. They hardly talked anymore and the day just seemed dull without Axel.

"Morning Sora." Luxord greeted the little Heartless as he made his way into the Org.'s kitchen.

Something that had surprised Sora - and practically everyone else in the Org. – was the fact that Luxord was a wonderful cook in the kitchen.

"Hi Luxord." The Heartless greeted the platnuim blonde Nobody as he hopped up onto a chair, then onto the table, and onto a counter after that.

"Still can't warp places?" The gambler Nobody asked as he looked down at the Heartless that was sitting nearby. Near enough to watch him, but far back enough not to cause any trouble.

"No." Sora said in frustration. "I just can't do it."

Luxord chuckled at seeing the unhappy look on Sora's face, or rather, the closest thing to an unhappy look for a Heartless.

"Perhaps you just need a few lessons. I'll be pleased to teach you later, if you can beat me in cards again." Luxord bargained, nearly smirking as Sora nodded eagerly. No one in the Org. was certain on how, but Sora almost always won against Luxord, who had used to be known as unbeatable.

Sora of course, didn't tell anyone how he did it, but it seemed to have passed onto Roxas as well. As the blonde Nobody could easily beat Luxord at poker as well.

"We'll play after yours and Roxas' mission today then." Sora nodded in agreement and nearly squealed happily as Luxord placed a plate of food in front of him, before setting one next to Sora on the counter. "For Roxas. It won't go cold for a while, but he should be on his way down by now."

The Heartless nodded slightly in agreement, eagerly wolfing down his breakfast as he waited for his Nobody to join him as Luxord took his own plate and left the kitchen. As Luxord and Sora had predicted, it wasn't long before Roxas, rubbing an eye sleepily as he made his way over to the Heartless – who had finished eating – and the plate of food for him.

"Hey Sora…" Roxas greeted the Heartless quietly as he picked up his fork, leaning tiredly against the counter as he stuck a forkful of food into his mouth, sea-blue eyes meeting Sora's yellow ones.

"Morning Roxas." Sora greeted his Nobody as he hopped down from the counter and 'danced' around the blonde, who chuckled weakly before returning to his meal.

Sora frowned worriedly. He knew that Axel's death had affected his Nobody, but it seemed to be getting worse and it was really worrying the little Heartless.

"Do you know what we'll be doing today?" Roxas asked curiously, looking down at the Heartless, who shook his head.

"No, I haven't seen Saix yet today…" Sora grimaced. He didn't like the blue-haired Nobody. For some reason, the man gave him chills and an uneasy feeling in the pit of his stomach.

"Hm…" Was the only response out of Roxas.

After breakfast, the two headed for the stop in the GreyRoom where Saix always stood, waiting to pass out missions.

"You two are heading to TwilightTown today." Saix said in his forever serious tone, his golden eyes narrowing slightly as he looked at the two. "Destroy the Shadow Globs there and then report back."

Roxas and Sora both nodded silently, heading towards the Dark Corridor in the corner that they always took.

Sora, personally was a bit excited for the mission. It had been about a week ago that he and Roxas had discovered that Sora could take two other forms. One was the shadow-like figure of himself that he had fought against in NeverLand, complete with a shadow-made keyblade.

The second one was a slightly older-looking Sora, this one was more shadow-like than the other one. It didn't have a keyblade, which caused Sora to attack the other Heartless with his bare hands. He surprisingly found that he didn't mind it and that he preferred that form to the former one.

It didn't take long to get to TwilightTown, and with the both of them splitting up, it took a very short amount of time to get rid of the Shadow Blobs.

As they headed back to the Dark Corridor that would lead them back to the Castle, Sora suddenly froze, his sensing picking up on a higher-level Nobody.

"Sora..?" Roxas asked, a frown playing on the corners of the blonde Nobody's lips as Sora turned around, looking back down the path they had just walked up. A quiet gasp leaving the (now) small Heartless' mouth.

Roxas' eyebrows furrowed as he too, turned to face the Nobody. Sea-blue eyes widened in shock as he took in the familiar sight of a tall, red-haired Nobody who was grinning at them.

"Axel?" Roxas asked in shock, his face paling as he stared at his best friend, who grinned a bit cheekily at him.

"What wrong Roxy? You look like you've seen a ghost." The red-haired Nobody teased him, making Roxas scowl while Sora laughed silently.

"It's Roxas! R. O. X. A. S! Got it memorized?" Roxas grumpily snapped back before shooting a glare down at the Heartless, "Shut up Sora..!"

Sora of course, ignored Roxas and continued to laugh as the blond huffed unhappily while Axel joined in on Sora's laughter - only to stop a moment later when another body collided with his - arms wrapping themselves tightly around him and a face buried itself into his coat.

"Missed you…" Roxas muttered, his cheeks turning a light pink as he pulled away quickly, a still stunned Axel blinking down at him and he scowled, lightly kicking the other's leg. "Answer, idiot."

Axel started to laugh again, sweeping a struggling Roxas into another hug, ruffling the blonde's already spiky hair into a bigger mess. "Missed you too Roxy!"

"Roxas!" The boy corrected, giving up struggling in the red-head's arms as he huffed quietly. "Just… Where have you been, Axel?" Roxas asked quietly, his blue eyes looking up at the other, who let him go. Roxas and Sora - who had finally stopped laughing- watched the other in worry at seeing so many emotions flicker across his face in a short amount of time.

"It's a long story…" Axel sighed finally, rubbing the back of his neck, glancing away. "I need some time to get everything ready and get my own thoughts straightened out…"

"Time to get what ready?" Roxas asked, tilting his head, his eyebrows furrowing in worry. "Axel..?"

"Promise me that you'll listen with an open mind." Axel asked, green eyes meeting blue, pleading for the other to listen to him.

"Yeah, I promise." Sora nodded in agreement with his Nobody and Axel took a deep breath before starting his tale.

I hope everyone liked the chapter and are looking forward to the next one! And sorry for ending it on a cliffhanger, but I think that makes it a bit more interesting for you guys! So you can guess and assume what's going to happen next!

And, don't forget to drop by and check out 100 Words, 100 Glimpses. works/1436812/chapters/3021685 which updates (almost) EVERY Tuseday! And don't forget to check out my Etsy too! listing/186141667/crochet-sherlock-doll. If I get enough buyers, and more money, I'll work on making more dolls like Roxas, Sora, Riku, Ventus, Axel, Demyx, Zexion, ect... So tell your friends who like/watch BBC's Sherlock!

So, I'll see you all next chapter!

~Snow.