re_alignment | Number I : The First Day [video]

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Number I : The First Day [video]

[Axel wasn't sure what had surprised him more upon first opening his eyes; the fact the he wasn't looking up at Sora's sad-eyed, spikey-haired face silouetted against the backdrop of swirling colors that made up the scenery of Betwixt and Between, or the fact that he was still around to be looking at anything at all. He'd already been fading after that last attack, and he'd used the last of his energy to open the portal to The World That Never Was for Sora. He should be gone, faded back into the Nothingness that had formed him.

Instead, he was laying on something heard, looking up at a dark, metal ceiling and a... robot? What the hell?

The robot (who he noticed seemed sort of out of it, though who knew, maybe that was just how robots were) gave him a basic explanation of his situation and showed him to his room. A room that was obviously meant for robots, or at least beings, of a similar scale to the robot itself. Which left Axel in a bit of a predicament.

It took a bit of fiddling, but eventually he got the small communications device he'd been given to work. So hey there, Haven. Have an unfamiliar face bearing two small, purple, reverse-teardrop-shaped markings on it and framed by very spiky red hair.]

...There, think that's got it. Anyway, hey there. The name's Axel. Got it memorized?

Was just wondering... is there any place around here where a guy could get an actual human-sized bed? Or just a mattress? Or even just a sleeping bag or a hammock or something? Cause you know, nice as it is to get a free room, giant metal beds that I can't actually reach without teleporting or climbing really aren't my thing.

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[Nodding, Ventus goes ahead and pokes around for some bowls and spoons.]

Sure is the first time I've ever seen it done that way. You'll come in handy around here! [He's just kidding.]

Speaking of drinks, water all right?

[Axel gives an amused smirk.]

You'd be surprised how often it's come in handy.

And sure, water's fine.

[Axel really wouldn't mind something stronger, but decided to worry about exploring that option another time.

When he decides that the soup is hot enough, he pours it out into the two bowls in approximately equal portions. Turns out its homestyle chicken noodle, with hearty chunks of chicken and veggies and curly noodles. Tasty and filling. After locating a place to discard the empty can and doing so, Axel turns back to Ven.]

Ready when you are; don't figure we'll have trouble finding a place to sit.

[Chuckling, Ventus nods as he goes to grab a couple of glasses of water for them, then.]

All set here! Pick a spot- looks like we'll have the place to ourselves.

[Given that Ventus has the glasses of water, Axel opts to bring the bowls of soup and spoons. Once they're both ready, he heads back out into the bar proper, heading for one of the booths in the corner. Not like there was anyone around to gripe about two people taking up more table space than necessary, after all.

Once they're both settled, Axel sighs slightly. No more excuses to put it off.]

Well... guess it's finally time for that explanation, huh?

[The boy slides one of the glasses over towards Axel once he sits, lifting his bright-eyed gaze hesitantly in his friend's direction. He nods.]

I guess so... Um, you can take your time though.

[Axel gave a soft 'heh' as he was told to take his time.]

I do that, and we'll be here all day.

[Takes a bite of his soup, then begins.]

Anyway, should probably start at the beginning, namely a couple days after we last met. You know those... monster-things that were popping up in odd places during the time you were there? Well, a few days after that they just... vanished. No one had any idea why. Maybe you had something to do with it, or your friends, but whatever the case they just quit appearing as suddenly as they'd started.

Around the same time, there was an... explosion, or something in one of the central courtyards. Nobody really saw what happened, but they did find one guy at he scene, unconscious and injured. Nobody knew who he was, but our King, Ansem the Wise took him back to the castle for treatment. Being a kid at the time, I didn't bother to find out much beyond that, figuring the guy was in good hands. Eventually, everyone kinda forgot about the whole monster thing, and it just became a weird thing that had happened, something to talk about when things were dull.

...Until about a year later, when it started happening again. It started out quietly, with a few people disappearing; the armorer's son, one of the castle maids, a few others. Then the monsters showed up. Just a few, at first. Black things with yellow eyes that jumped out of the shadows to attack people. The castle guards assured everyone that things were under control.

But it wasn't. Things kept getting worse. More disappearances, more monsters. Didn't take much brainpower to figure out that the two were connected, but at the time, nobody knew how. But when there came a point where no one had seen or heard from Ansem in over a week, I decided that it was time Isa and I stopped sitting on our butts and find out.

[Ventus smiles faintly, but he's all ears as Axel begins. He samples his soup as he listens.

The Unversed had disappeared? And only some time after he had last been there. That...was a good sign, right? Maybe they managed to stop them after all.

He sips another spoonful of soup, head tilting.]

The Unversed came back..?

[He can't help but frown a little. A year later, but even so- yet that isn't all that bothers him. He's pretty sure he's never seen any Unversed that were as Axel described. And so far as he knows, no one had disappeared because of them...]

....so did you? Find out, that is.

[Axel shakes his head.]

No, not the Unversed, if that's what that first bunch of monsters was called. These were something else; Heartless. They come from, and are drawn to, the darkness in people's hearts. They attack people and try to steal their hearts, and if they succeed, those hearts are consumed by darkness, and become more Heartless, which then try to attack more people and steal more hearts, and so on, and so on. Then, usually, the rest of the person just disappears; nothing holding them to the Realm of Light any more.

And a Keyblade is the only way to put them down permanently; no other weapon frees the hearts that make up a Heartless, so they just reform somewhere else later. They one good thing about them is that they're stupid; they act purely on instinct, like wild animals. Unless there's some other force controlling them, that is.

...But I'm getting kinda ahead of myself, there.

[Axel sighs again at the question of whether they found out what had been going on.]

Yeah... we found out. The hard way.

We waited til after dark, then snuck into the castle through a ground level window to a basement storeroom. It wasn't big enough for an adult to get through, but a couple kids like us could fit just fine. We started poking around, looking for evidence. We thought maybe that Ansem had been hurt or something, and the Guards were trying to hush it up so people didn't panic, or that they'd found out something about the monsters that they didn't want getting out. We though we'd find out where the monsters, the Heartless, had been coming from, and be heroes.

That's when we found the laboratory. We did find where the Heartless were coming from, but it wasn't anything like we thought. There were prison cells, and records of experiments being performed on people. Experiments that caused their hearts to collapse, and turn into Heartless, or where people were offered as 'living samples' to captive Heartless. And a machine that was cranking out even more Heartless. The first bunch of people who disappeared? That's what happened to them. Most of the others after were victims of random Heartless attacks, but the first dozen or two...

[Axel trails off there, sighing and shaking his head. Even now, he's not fond of recalling the details of that night, but it's important for Ven to understand in order for what came after to make any sense.]

Needless to say, we decided we had to get the hell out of there and tell somebody. But we didn't make it. The guys who'd been running the whole show caught us before we could get away.

Turns out the castle guards, or at least their high ranking officers, were in on it the whole time. They, and several of Ansem's scientific diciples, had convinced Ansem to build the lab where they could research darkness of the heart. When Ansem found out what they were doing with it, though, and tried to stop them, they turned on him, and banished him to another realm.

That was before they used artificial means to extract their own hearts. Remember when I said that the rest of the person usually vanishes after their heart is taken? That's not always the case. Sometimes, if the person's heart was really strong, the empty shell that left behind starts to act on its own, and forms what's called a Nobody. The very strongest of those Nobodies retain their human form and memories, and that's what they were by the time Isa and I ran into them.

And when they caught us, they decided to get rid of us by putting us through the same process they'd used to remove their own hearts. I guess they figured we'd never survive it, and in a way they were right. But they were also wrong. No one had any idea how strong the hearts of two punk kids could be...

[He trails off again, there, not quite meeting Ventus' eyes, hoping that he can put together what happened without Axel having to actually say it...]

...steal their hearts...

[His soup is momentarily forgotten as he stares at Axel.]

Princess Aurora had her heart stolen, but she never changed into a Heartless. I helped get her heart back, so she should be okay, right?

[That's not all he's thinking about, though. He remember's Maleficent's words, who she said had been responsible for taking the princess's heart in the first place. And if Axel was saying that Keyblades were the only thing that could free those stolen hearts from the Heartless...

He shakes his head, not wanting to believe it. Besides...]

There's a machine that can do that though? But why would someone want to..?

[It's a lot of information to process, and his head is spinning with questions, but the silence that falls between them once Axel trails off is heavy with that realization of what happened to his friend. Ventus looks intently at the Nobody, hoping that he's wrong but knowing there's no other explanation.]

...so...you and Isa...

Aurora and the other Princesses of Heart are... unique cases, to say the least. With no darkness in their hearts, there's nothing to form a Heartless, so as long as nothing happened to her heart between when it was taken and when it was returned, she should be fine. Leastways, she was fine last I heard, and that's awhile down the road from what you remember.

[Axel shrugs slightly. Vexen could've probably given Ven a whole lecture on the subject of how such things worked, but Axel was the kind of guy who preferred to keep things simple. Besides, there was still a lot to cover.

At the question of 'why', though, Axel sighs.]

They wanted more power, and were convinced that that was the way to get it. To be fair, they were partly right; because Nobodies don't really conform to the physical laws of the world, becoming one is a great way to unlock dormant magical potential, like my fire. But they realized too late exactly how much it'd cost them, and that there were certain things that were impossible to do without a heart.

[At Ven's realization Axel can only close his eyes a moment nodding slowly.]

Yeah... That's what I meant when I said that I wasn't exactly Lea any more. I'm... what's left of Lea, I guess. I have all his memories, and his body, but... I'm not him. Not really.

[Pause]

I'm sorry...

[It's some small relief at the very least. One less thing to weigh on his mind, and so long as he understood that the princess was safe, then he didn't need lengthy, detailed explanations.

He begins to frown though as Axel reasons why such things could even happen. It's a frown that slowly melts into sadness, but it's shaken away with the motion of his head.]

You're a part of him, even if you're not the same as when we met. That's enough to qualify for me. So...so don't apologize. You're still Lea to me.

[Well, that was... better than Axel had been hoping for. He smiles faintly and rubs the back of his neck a bit sheepishly.]

...Thanks. Really. Nice to be called Lea again by someone who isn't trying to 'remind' me about where my loyalties ought to lie...

But that's kinda getting ahead of myself again.

[With arguably the worst part over with, Axel relaxes enough to eat another bite or two of his soup before continuing.]

Anyway... after that me and Siax- Isa's Nobody- joined up with a group called Organization XIII or just 'the Organization'. Aside from us, it was made up of the group of Nobodies I mentioned to you before, the ones who used to be Ansem's diciples.

Now, before you say, 'Lea, are you an idiot?' the answer is yes, but at that point, we didn't have much choice. We were literally Nobodies with nothing. And being Nobodies, we couldn't feel angry about what they'd done any more, or upset, or scared, or... anything really. So we did what we thought would give us some kind of chance of getting our hearts back; since if anybody knew how to find a way to do it, it was them.

Not that we trusted them any further than we could throw the castle, though. Right from the beginning, we planned to take over. Then we'd be able to run things our way, and would have a much better chance of getting what we wanted. Siax would get in close to Xemnas, the Organization's leader, and make himself indispensable, while I stayed more in the background, quietly taking care of any potential 'interference'. We always knew it'd be a long game, but we were confident that we could pull it off. But ya know what they say about 'the best laid plans', and in the end, ours one was no different.

[He doesn't quite feel like eating again just yet, but he picks up his water for a drink.]

....that sounds familiar. For a while, I didn't have anything either. Aqua and Terra told me that when I was first brought to the Land of Departure, I kind of just sat there like a doll...

I can't remember anything before that, but it doesn't bother me that much. I've made new memories, and good friends.

[He'd picked up his soup spoon again, stirring it absently.]

...so what happened? You and Isa- Saix? Did you get caught..?

[Axel's eyes widen slightly at Ven's description of his former state. He'd seen another, identical face wearing just the expression Ven described, once upon a time...

"Remember? I acted like a zombie."

"...That's right. That first week, you could barely form a sentence."

It can't be a coincidence, but damned if Axel knows what the connection is. Roxas and Ven, though identical in voice and appearance, were separated by 11 years of time. The only apparent connection between them was that they were both Keyblade wielders, but that didn't explain much.

Axel decided to let it drop for now. Nothing to be done about it, currently, and hopefully Ven had been too distracted to notice.]

Not really. Our plan was moving along fairly smoothly... until Roxas showed up. Roxas was Sora's Nobody, so he could use a Keyblade, even without a heart of his own. Which was exactly what the Organization needed. Roxas looked a lot like you, oddly enough, which is why both Luxord and I mistook you for him at first.

Naturally, Siax and I knew that if we wanted our plan to control the Organization to succeed, then we had to control the Organization's Keyblade wielder, and prevent anyone else in the Organization from getting a hold of a Keyblade's power themselves. So Siax assigned me a few training missions with Roxas. I was supposed to buddy-up to him, pretend to be his friend and get him to trust me. And that was going OK, right up until I had to head off on a long mission to a place called Castle Oblivion, a world with some pretty unusual properties, thanks to it being exactly on the boundary between the Realm of Light and the Realm of Darkness.

I didn't realize it at the time, but that's when everything really started to change...

[Fortunately for Axel, Ventus misses that look, lifting his head just as the Nobody pushes on with answering his question.]

Sora...

[Did that mean that this Sora person looked like him? How else would it work, otherwise?

He tries not to frown at the plan that Axel begins to explain, about his and Saix's designs on controlling the Organization through the one who wielded the Keyblade. It bothers him in more ways than one, although he can't really put a name to the other reasons. They're mainly feelings, and uneasy ones at that.

But Axel's story isn't finished, and Ventus is curious to see how it pans out.]

Change..?

[Axel nods at Ventus' not-quite question.]

Castle Oblivion was a research facility for the Organization. There, with the help of a very unusual Nobody named Namine, the Organization planned to bring not just Roxas, but Sora as well under our control. See, because of the unique way she came into being, Namine had power over Sora's memories, and the memories of those connected to him. The plan was for her to alter Sora's memories, insert herself in the place of the girl he loved, so we would be able to control him, by controlling her.

At least, that was supposed to be the plan. Really, Marluxia- the guy in charge of the mission- and a few others were plotting to betray the Organization and take Sora's power for themselves. I was sent along, ostensibly, to eliminate the traitors. I weaseled my way into Marluxia's confidence, so that they thought I was part of his and Larxene's little conspiracy, so that I could manipulate things as necessary, not just to get rid of the obvious traitors, but to also get rid of those who might stand in Siax and my way.

I personally offed Vexen before he could tell Sora about Roxas. That would've just been bad for our plans all around. Then I goaded Vexen's replica of Sora's friend Riku into offing Zexion. He'd started getting a bit to suspicious of Siax and I for comfort, so it seemed like the best solution at the time. In the end, between me, Sora, and the real Riku, I was the only Organization member to survive the Castle Oblivion mission. We didn't know where Namine went for a long time after that, but we knew she'd taken Sora with her after putting him and his friends into a deep sleep so that she could safely restore their memories.

But the really important part, for me, was encountering Sora for the first time. He... started something, I think, because for the first time in over a decade, I felt something. I actually enjoyed it, when my plan was going well.

That was just the start of it, though. After I came back from the Castle Oblivion mission, wht had started as a faked friendship to manipulate Roxas gradually became real. We became friends, and then best friends, before I even realized it. Roxas... I don't know how, but Roxas made me feel like I had a heart. It's weird, to feel guilty about lying to someone, when you're used to feeling nothing.

If I'd been smart, I probably wouldn't have done it at all, but I thought I was protecting him. If he knew about Sora, about where he came from, and why he was special, he'd never stay with the Organization. And the Organization wasn't exactly the kind of group that accepted resignations, if you know what I mean. And not only would leaving the Organization be a death sentence, I knew that it'd be one that I'd have to carry out. And I didn't want to do that.

So even though I liked it less and less, I kept on with Siax's and my original plan, and kept Roxas in the dark. Even though I started to have some serious... issues with Siax about it. I'm not sure why I'd never noticed before then, but... Siax changed. Maybe it was the whole 'getting close to Xemnas' thing, or something else, but Siax... at some point he stopped being recognizable as Isa any more. And I;m not sure when, exactly, but at some point... I realized that he just wasn't my friend any more.

And Roxas was. Not that that helped, in the end. Eventually, he got sick of not being told anything, and of being outright lied to, and left the Organization just like I was afraid he'd do. And just like I'd predicted, I was the one given the job of either bringing him back... or eliminating him.

[He doesn't like this business that's resulted in so many...deaths. Even if they were Nobodies, it was still like killing someone, wasn't it?

The Organization sounded like a poisonous place to be, but even if his friend had had a part in it, Ventus is glad that it hasn't completely changed Axel or what he knows of Lea. Still, he doesn't like this business about trying to use someone for their own gain, Nobody or not. With all those things going on, he can't say he's surprised that Roxas had left, once Axel says as much.]

Who wouldn't want answers? Even if you weren't completely aware of what was going on around you, something would tip you off. You'd be curious too, wouldn't you?

[He's almost surprised at his own words, but he realizes why they'd come out so easily. It's the same that he'd felt after he'd left the Land of Departure. Everyone kept telling him to go back home, but what good could he do there?

Shaking his head, he tries to reel the conversation back in again. Even if it hadn't been his personal experience, it doesn't make it any easier to hear Axel's story. Besides, he had said that he'd started to feel again. Wouldn't that affect him all the more, everything that was going on?

And then to be given the task of either bringing a friend back or getting rid of them?]

....and...did you find Roxas?

[Axel sighs, nodding a bit and rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly.]

Yeah. It seems kinda obvious now, how much of a dumb idea it was, trying to keep him there like that. But you know what they say about hindsight being 20-20. I can't really say that it seemed like a good idea at the time, cause it didn't, but... I just didn't have any better ones.

If I'm being honest, at that point, it was still a lot more about me than him. I wanted him to be safe and with me, regardless of what he wanted, which just ended up being what drove him away in the end.

...If I'd been smarter, I'd have probly gone with him. Or done... something. I dunno. Just anything other than stand there and watch him walk away, knowing what it would mean.

[Not that Axel was really sure even now if that would have changed anything. But he couldn't help but wonder, couldn't help but replay the scenario and those that followed it in his mind. Had it already been too late at that point? Could he have changed anything, if he'd just figured things out a little sooner? Would Roxas still be around, if his actions had been different?

He'd probably never know.]

But yeah, I found him. Turns out he'd been captured by a guy named DiZ, who'd taken charge of Namine, along with Sora and his friends, who were still asleep. DiZ had stuck Roxas in a simulation of Twilight Town, and Namine had altered his memories so he'd think the town was real, and that he'd always lived there.

So when I found Roxas the first time, he didn't remember me at all. I knew DiZ was onto me, so there really wasn't time to try and explain. I planned to knock Roxas out, take him back with me, then explain once we had time. But knocking Roxas out is... easier said than done, and I was trying not to hurt him too much.

We fought for a bit, then DiZ himself showed up, trying to tell Roxas that I was lying, to keep him in the simulation. I think the two of us at once was too much, and Roxas kinda freaked out. The simulation glitched, and I was kicked out.

The next time I made it back in, Roxas seemed to remember me. He knew my name, and the fact that we were best friends. But no dice. He must've gotten a little bit of information from somewhere- my guess is Namine, though I could be wrong- but he didn't really remember anything. Not yet, anyway.

DiZ froze the simulation, and me along with it, just as I was about to try the direct approach again, and by the time I could move again, Roxas was gone. At that point, I knew that the Roxas I knew was long gone. And that I couldn't afford to pull my punches any more.

By the time I caught up with Roxas again, it was almost too late. See, because Roxas was Sora's Nobody, some of Sora's memories got stuck in him. That's why DiZ and Namine needed him; without Roxas, Sora would never be able to wake up. But for that to happen, it meant that he had to merge with Sora and become part of him again. He wouldn't exist as Roxas any more.

I caught up with him just outside the chamber where Sora was sleeping in the simulated Twilight Town. I knew it was my last shot. I knew that if he walked through that door, I'd never see him again. And I couldn't let that happen.

By that point he really remembered me and everything else... but he was also ready to become part of Sora again, even if I don't think he really wanted to. And I couldn't let him do that. So I fought him with everything I had. It wasn't enough, though. Somehow, he had two keyblades, and was stronger than I'd ever seen him. He handed me my ass thoroughly enough that I didn't have the energy to stay in the simulation any more.

...That's the last I saw of him. We... sort of said goodbye before I faded out of the simulation, and weirdly enough we parted on better terms then than when he'd left the Organization. But still, I never saw him again after that.

Though not for lack of trying...

[There's a lot he doesn't understand, and a lot that just sounds like such terrible things for anyone to be put through, Nobody or not. To be tricked, lied to and used...

He's not sure how he should feel about Roxas' fate. After all, he was a part of someone, but then he'd been given a life of his own, so to speak, only to be pulled back. Was it fair? Did it make a difference? What about all of his experiences? His friends?]

...I'm sorry.

[It's all that he can think of to say, but he looks across the table at Axel, sincerely wishing that things could have gone differently for them- although at what point would that even have to start?]

[Axel returns Ven's gaze, grateful for what he sees in it. As for where it would have been necessary to start to fix it, Axel has no more idea than Ven. The whole situation was one big mess, and large parts of it were Axel's fault, either directly or indirectly.

Maybe they'd been doomed from the start. Nothing lasted forever, after all. Least of all a couple Nobodies.

The story wasn't quite over yet, though...]

...So am I. About a lot of things. Though most of them lead back to me being an idiot in one form or another. The last bit.

After I lost Roxas, I was determined to get him back. The fact that that meant Sora would have to become a Heartless again didn't matter to me at the time. I wanted my friend back, and damn the consequences for anyone else.

Of course, this meant that I was doing the one thing I'd always told myself I wouldn't do and openly set myself against the Organization. With Roxas gone, their plans required Sora to be in one piece and destroying Heartless with his Keyblade. So I was on my own, and on the run, though I think part of me was banking on me retrieving Roxas to buy my safety at the end of it all.

I knew I had to lure Sora out into the open if I wanted to turn him into a Heartless again, so I kidnapped Kairi, the girl he loved. I wasn't gonna hurt her or anything; she was just bait to get Sora to come to me. But she got away from me, and Siax caught her. He locked her in the dungeon of the Castle That Never Was, and used her to drive Sora on and further the Organizations plans.

... It was a really dumb plan from the get go. Shoulda known by that point that trying to make big plans on my own would backfire one me. Once I lost track of Kairi, I wasn't entirely sure of what to do. I wound up confronting Sora, letting him in on the fact that the Organization was using him, though I didn't explain everything. I was even gonna explain about what happened with Kairi, and started to apologize, but then Siax showed up and I had to beat it.

After that Iholed up for a little while, did some serious thinking that I probably should've done long before that. And I finally figured a few things out. About Roxas, Sora, and myself.

I realized that Roxas was better off with Sora than with me, and that ultimately, that was where he belonged. And I realized that that mattered more than the fact that I missed him and wanted him back. And realizing that there was something more important than what I wanted, suddenly made a lot of other things clearer too. After that, I knew what I had to do.

I found Sora and his friends in Betwixt and Between, halfway between the Realm of Light and the World That Never Was, on his way to rescue Kairi and bring down the Organization. They were surrounded by Dusks - low level Nobodies that made up the bulk of the Organization's forces- and the odds were against them. They might've been able to beat them back eventually, but the longer you stay in Betwixt and Between, the harder it is to find your way out again. I knew they'd never make it to the World That Never Was. At least, not without help.

Which is where I stepped in. I was planning to keep the Dusks busy while they got through. Course, given that the Organization had it in for me by then too, and the fact that I was already exhausted from being on the run, I had no illusions about how that would ultimately end for me, but... it was something I had to do.

Sora distracted me, asked me why I was doing it; I told him to just forget it and get going, but the distraction was enough that a couple Dusk were able to jump me. Sora beat them off, and asked me if I was OK. I explained what had happened with Kairi, and told him to go save her. The Dusks had other plans, though, and we wound up fighting them off together.

Or trying to, at least. But there were too many of them. We swatted one, two more popped up in its place. Sora was OK, but I was just about at the end of my rope. No matter what happened, I knew I wasn't gonna walk away from that one. But somehow, that didn't matter; I'd known, deep down, that I was a dead man walking the moment I turned on the Organization. At least this way I'd be going out on my own terms, and doing something right for a change.

I told Sora I'd handle it, and then... I put everything I had into one last attack, a huge explosion that wiped out every single Dusk, but left Sora and his friends unharmed. Even for a fire magic expert like me, an attack like that is hard to pull off at the best of times. Drained as I was already, it finished me, just like I knew it would.

Was worth it, though. Sora knelt down beside me while I was fading away, looking at me with that sad little spikey-haired face of his. I explained what was happening, and apologized for what I did to Kairi, asking Sora to pass my apology along to her. Kid actually tried to tell me that I'd get the chance to say tell her myself, but I knew better.

Then he asked me why I did it. And I told him about Roxas, and about how he'd made me feel like I had a heart. I almost told him that he made me feel the same way... but I couldn't quite do it. I told him again to go save Kairi, and used the last of my energy to open a portal for him to the World That Never Was, and was about to fade away completely...

...And then the next thing I knew, I was waking up here in Megatronus' Temple.
Whatever brought me here seems to have revived me to the point before I opted to, shall we say, go out with a bang, so needless to say, I'm a lot less dead than I expected to be. And you pretty much know the rest.

[Of course this left wide open the question of just what in the hell he was going to do now? What amounted to a suicide mission didn't leave a whole lot of room for future plans. But Axel found that he just didn't have the energy to deal with that at the moment. He'd have to figure it out eventually, but for now, sitting here with Ven was enough.]

[Falling silent again, Ventus feels any more words he might offer would be inadequate. He's still not sure that he completely understands everything that Axel had related to him, but he listens to every word, and he can only imagine how bad and how convoluted things had been.]

...must have been really confusing to wake up here after all that. It was confusing enough waking up without going through that, though.

But you're here now, and that you're not dead is definitely a plus, right?

[A faint smile tries to make its way back on his face.]

[Axel is silent as well, until Ven replies. He's not really certain what do expect by way of reaction, but somehow it feels... right, to have said it all. Yes, there were details that might come up later, but Ven knew everything really important. No surprises, no lies. If something was going to come between them, it wouldn't be anything Axel did.

Not this time.]

Yeah... Waking up on an alter is sort of creepy no matter how you slice it. And that's before you even get to the whole 'giant robots' thing.

[The corner's of Axel's mouth quirk back up slightly as well.]

Yeah. Not being dead's definitely a plus. And the company's much nicer than the last time, too.

[Ventus laughs weakly at that.]

Yeah, I'll say...

[And with those following words from Axel, it's not hard to keep that smile in place.]

[Axel's amused smirk becomes a bit more genuine as well as Ventus' smile solidifies a bit.

Axel goes to take a bit of his soup... and realizes that while he'd been talking, it had gotten cold.]

Damn... must've been talking longer than I thought...

[He places one hand on the side off the bowel and focuses for a moment, stopping when steam begins to rise from the bowl again. He holds out a hand toward Ven.]

Here... I'll warm yours back up too. And while I'm doing that, you can maybe tell me a bit about what's been going on with you. I mean, chances are, it's not as crazy as what happened to me, but I'd still like to hear it.

Huh? Oh- [He'd nearly forgotten about the soup, but he picks up the bowl and offers it to Axel.]

Thanks. Um... Well, no, I guess things have been kind of quiet by comparison. I probably wouldn't even have been in Radiant Garden if I hadn't decided to try following my friend Terra. He and Aqua had just taken the test for the Mark of Mastery so they could become Keyblade Masters. Only Aqua passed, though...

There was this...weird boy wearing a helmet so you couldn't see his face. I don't know where he came from, but I didn't like what he told me about Terra. He didn't stay long enough for me to ask a whole lot, but I don't think he would've answered even if he had. But I got worried about Terra, so I went to find him.

[He traces the circular shape on his shoulder guard with a finger.]

He was leaving the Land of Departure, but I don't know why. I decided to follow him. It was the first time I'd ever left, the first time I'd ever gone to other worlds.

...I always ended up just missing him, or I'd get caught up with something else. I'm not going to complain too much about that, though. I got to meet and help out a lot of people. But it wasn't until I met Maleficent that I really got worried about things. She said that Terra had been the one to take Aurora's heart, but I won't believe that. He would never do such a thing!

I still hadn't found him though, but I ran into Aqua, and she wanted me to go back home. I guess Master Eraqus sent her to find me...

Number I : The First Day [video]

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