"Stupid game," I heard him mumble, as he slammed down the controller in his chair. I couldn't help but laugh.

"What's wrong?" I ask, just messing with him. "Can't beat it?"

My cousin looked over at me. "Shut up."

I couldn't help but laugh. "Maybe Kingdom Hearts isn't your kind of video game."

He just sighed. "You play it so effortlessly," he complained. "Me? I just suck."

"Yeah, you do."

He was glaring at me now. "Shut the-"

"Boys!" interrupted my dad. "It's 3 AM! Go to bed!"

"We are!" I shouted back.

I could hear him going back to his room. "You better…" he mumbled, "…because I'm not going to hear it from your mother in the morning."

I sighed. "Come on," I said, "let's hit the hay."

"Just one more try, okay?" he protested.

I decided not to fight him. The one thing about my cousin Zane was when his mind was set on something, there was no changing it. "Yeah, go ahead."

He smiled. "Dude, you rock!"

I grinned. "I know."

Zane just shook his head. "You and your ego…" And, with that, he was playing KHII again.

He'd been at it for a while (since 5 this afternoon), trying to beat certain levels. He wasn't bad at the game, but he just didn't like having to fight and level up. He wanted to play straight through the story line, without playing the side quests, and that just doesn't work. When playing an RPG, you have to take time and level up your characters, which is what some side quests are for. Otherwise, the game's hard as hell.

I sat on my bed and watched the TV screen. He was playing as Sora, running around Hallow Bastion after the MCP had taken control of the town's defense system. For some reason, he just couldn't get to the main computer to visit Tron's world. I had played this mission several times, and each time I had been able to make it through with ease. But, I was also at a higher level than he was; this is what was screwing him over. His Sora wasn't anywhere near the level my Sora was when I played this level, making it much more difficult.

I could tell he was getting frustrated. He was almost there when, for the fifth time, he died.

"SON OF A-"

I cut him off by covering his mouth with my hand. "You idiot!" I whispered. "My parents are asleep and they've got to go to work tomorrow! They don't have a month off like we do! Keep it down!"

He mumbled something that I couldn't understand.

"What did you say?" my voice still at a whisper. That's when realizing my hand was still covering his mouth. "Oh, sorry!"

"I said this game is starting to piss me off," he whispered back. He handed me the controller. "Here! You beat it for me!"

I took the controller and sighed. "You need anger management counseling."

He held up his hand. "It's camouflaged, pick one."

I just shook my head. I hit continue on the screen and started playing. I took out all the enemies I could to gain experience points within each area. His Sora's level was way too low for this mission. I was still confused on how in the world he was able to get this far with Sora's level so low. But, I knew better than to ask or poke fun. He was in a pissy mood and I wasn't about to make it any worse.

I continued until I reached Ansem's room, where I saved and continued onward. "I couldn't even get to Ansem's office…" Zane said. I laughed and he glared. "Shut up."

I shrugged. "Whatever…" I said and continued playing. As I entered the computer room, there was a power serge and, for about a second, the screen went black. "Well, this sucks." I looked over at him, his mouth wide open.

"No kidding!" he said, in a loud whisper, looking back at me. "At least you saved the game in Ansem's office."

"Totally! Otherwise, I'd have to start back from the beginning," I said back to him. I looked back at the screen and, to my surprise, the game hadn't reset. "Wow! That's never happened before…"

Both of our jaws dropped. On the screen before us Sora was still in the computer room which teleports him, Donald, and Goofy to the computer world. However, the screen was slightly disoriented. Sora had a crown above his head and was wielding his ultimate Keyblade. Donald and Goofy were also wielding their most powerful weapons as well. What was weirder, there was a strange symbol (a heart with a crown in it with the middle point of the crown and the inside point of the heart connected) just floating in midair in the middle of the room.

"Um… What is that?" Zane asked.

I was dumbfounded. "Should I have Sora examine it?" I looked back at Zane. He shrugged. "Remind me never to ask you anything ever again." He snorted.

"Well, let's see what happens," I whispered. I had Sora move closer to the strange symbol. When the reaction command appeared for Sora to examine it, I hit the triangle button.

A sudden flash crossed over the screen. Soon, all kinds of pictures and words began to appear; pictures that I'd never seen before. A black haired girl, who looked like Kairi, with Roxas and Axel eating ice cream; the words Xion, Room of Sleep, Room of Awakening, and Organization XIII continued to flash up as more and more pictures of this girl kept coming up.

Then, the pictures changed to three characters, two guys and one girl, standing in a line in a funky looking room. One of the guys looked just like Roxas. The other guy had brown hair and the girl had blue hair. The pictures changed rapidly, but I was able to make them out. One of the characters was at Cinderella's Castle, one was talking to Maleficent, and the other was battling Heartless using a Keyblade that was floating.

"Dude," I said, excitedly, "isn't this awesome!?"

"What are you talking about?!" Zane asked. "I can't see a damn thing!"

I tried to look over at him, but my eyes were glued to the TV. I wanted to see every image. Not a minute later, my head began to hurt beyond imagination. I put my hands on my head; the pain was excruciating. But, no matter what I did, I couldn't take my eyes off the screen. I felt like I was coming to the point of insanity, where I was about to attack the TV so I could look away when I finally was able to close my eyes.

For the longest time, my mind wondered. I felt like I was in some kind of trance. When I finally opened my eyes again, Zane was knelt over me.

"Xander, you okay?!" he asked, his tone very worried.

I sat up and shook my head clear. "Yeah, I think so," I replied. "What happened?"

"Some weird crap, that's for sure," he said, looking at the TV. The screen was completely black, but the game was still on. "One minute there was this really annoying bright light, the next it goes away and you're lying on the ground. You've been out for about twenty, thirty minutes tops."

I just looked at him, then back at the screen. For some strange reason, besides the fact it was 4:30 in the morning, I was extremely tired. Usually, this early in the morning doesn't bother me. I'm a partial insomniac, so I've gotten use to being up late and not sleeping. But, for the first time in a few days, I was exhausted.

"Let's…just go to bed," I said. Zane looked at me and raised an eyebrow. "It's 4:30 AM. And, besides, it has been a long day. We'll try to figure this out later, okay?"

Reluctantly, he nodded. "Yeah, you're right."

I stood up and, looking at the TV screen one more time, I turned my PS2 off. There were so many questions I had. And I was determined to get answers. Little did I know, those answers would come sooner than I thought.