It was early in the morning in Twilight Town. Due to it's never-ending state of twilight, night didn't work the same in other worlds like it would here. Regardless of the fact, people were used to it.
Hayner couldn't sleep, so he had left his house to get a walk. However, he noticed Xolette up on top of the Clock Tower, sitting on the edge and staring out at the distance, one hand placed over her chest, while the other clenched and relaxed at her side every few moments. Hayner headed up to the building and walked over to his girlfriend, making sure not to startle her.
"Xolette? What are you doing up here?" Hayner asked, suppressing a shiver.
He put his hands under his arms to keep warm. The night air was cold, and yet, Xolette wasn't even effected by it.
"Couldn't sleep." Xolette replied, not even turning her head to look at him.
"Oh, but aren't you cold? Would you like some tea and a blanket, perhaps?" Hayner asked.
A moment past. Xolette sighed and turned to him.
"Sure, Hayner. I'll take both." Xolette replied.
She gave him a small smile. It was then that Hayner noticed how pale she was. Her eyes were black from lack of sleep and her eyebrows were creased. Hayner tried not to let his concerns show. He nodded to his girlfriend and left to go back to his house, where he grabbed a warm blanket and a cup of hot tea. When he got back to the clock tower, he found Xolette having not moved from her spot. The white haired girl was still looking at the distant sun in the horizon.
"Nice view. Olette liked it pretty much." Xolette mused.
"Olette? What's bringing her up all of a sudden?" Hayner asked.
He gave his girlfriend the blanket and tea. The Nobody girl smiled and took the items.
"Thank you." Xolette said.
She wrapped the blanket around herself and took a sip from her tea.
"I've just... been thinking of her lately. I feel like she should be here. I'm just a shell of what she was. You deserve better than me." Xolette said.
"Don't say that, Xolette. You're still Olette, even if you are just a "part" of her. You're my and Pence's friend, and my love." Hayner said reassuringly.
Xolette smiled.
"I'm glad you feel that way." Xolette whispered.
The two of them fell silent for a while. Xolette sipped her drink quietly, while cuddling against Hayner. The blonde boy watched her, thinking about what she was doing there. Was there a point to all this? Or was she just feeling alone?
"Did you come here to reminiscence about her?" Hayner asked, his arm wrapped around his girlfriend's torso.
Xolette shook her head.
"No, I really didn't." Xolette replied.
"Oh. How are you holding up? You seem troubled." Hayner asked.
Xolette frowned, not knowing how to answer the question. How was she holding up? Not very well. When Kairi had originally destroyed her body back in Umbros, at least she knew that Olette was safely back in existence and that everything was alright with her whole again and back with the boys.
But now…
"Well... I'm hanging in there." Xolette replied.
Hayner gave a small smile.
"Me too. We're all here for you, Xolette. You've always been part of our and Pence's group, and you always will. Never forget that." Hayner said.
Xolette gave a knowing nod.
"I know. But I've been thinking... I mean, I'm sure you've been thinking as well, but let's face it. If you're the brawl of the group, I'm the brain." Xolette said.
Hayner couldn't help but laugh.
"Oh? And here I figured I was the one standing for common sense out of the three of us." Hayner said.
Xolette smirked.
"Yeah, definitely. I'm the one constantly having to save your behinds and have us and Pene stay on top of work." Xolette said.
Hayner grinned.
"True. You've always managed to keep us all together." Hayner said.
Xolette nodded.
'Yep. You, Pence... and me." Xolette said.
She looked down and grew quiet. She seemed to be thinking of something, rubbing her chin with her thumb and index finger.
"What is it, Xolette? Something on your mind?" Hayner asked.
His brown eyes met her golden eyes. Xolette didn't answer immediately. She seemed to be thinking about her thoughts, about how she would explain them to him.
"Well, we all know that I'd have to die for Olette to return. Same as her Heartless. But I think there might be a loophole we could use to bring her back without killing me off. There might be something we could potentially do to restore her." Xolette replied.
Hayner raised an eyebrow, not being entirely sure what his girlfriend was hinting at.
"Really? What is it?" Hayner asked.
Xolette looked at the swirling liquid inside her cup.
"It might be just grasping straws, you know, but I…" Xolette started to reply.
Hayner patted her on the shoulder and gave Xolette a confident nod.
"You know how Roxas and Naminé use vessels to exist, but Naminé took awhile to return? She mentioned she was restored in Radiant Garden, thanks to Even, and Ansem, and some others. And I thought… maybe that they have some sort of vessel, or device, or anything. Anything might help us to bring back Olette. What do you think?" Xolette asked.
Hayner needed a few seconds to collect himself, so he wouldn't try breaking something. It was so simple, and yet, nobody ever thought about it.
"This might end up being a dead end. Still… I think you might be right." Hayner said.
He gave Xolette a promising smile. The Nobody girl nodded in agreement.
"Alright then, let's do this!" Xolette said.
A few hours later, when it was day, Xolette used a Corridor of Darkness to transport herself, Hayner, and Pence to Radiant Garden, where the three friends went to speak to Even, Ienzo, and Ansem the Wise. The three had to be guided through the castle by Aeleus, due to the fact that they had never been there and were on personal business, but soon found the leader of Radiant Garden and two apprentices in the castle lab. There, Hayner explained their request to them all.
"Do you think it is possible to create another vessel?" Hayner asked.
"It it extremely possible. After getting the shells to use for Roxas and Naminé, I made sure to keep the data for making replicas stored away safety, just in case there was ever a future need for something like that. So for your request, yes, I can." Even replied.
Pence nodded respectfully.
"Thank you." Pence said.
"It will only take me a couple days to create the shell, though. However, because this is a Somebody we're bringing back instead of a Nobody or Replica, and as you won't be killing the Nobody to bring her back, we can't proceed with the operation without her heart. If you cannot regain her heart, your friend will never be able to return. However, you can get around this by finding her Heartless and finding a way to contain the heart after defeating it to bring it back here. So all you need to do is return by then, along with the heart, and we can get the rest finished then. Ienzo will call when we need you back here." Even explained.
"Thank you." Xolette said.
With that, the Nobody girl and her two friends left the castle.
Immediately after returning to Twilight Town, Xolette asked Roxas, Axel, and Xion to come over to her house. There, she, Hayner, and Pence explained their goal, before Xolette then asked them to help her in finding her Heartless. The trio agreed, and they and Xolette left the building. Before the four had left him and Hayner, Pence had theorized that it was highly possible that the Heartless was still somewhere in Twilight Town and not somewhere off-world, so the four decided to search the town and the surrounding area of the world. Xolette remembered hearing how her Heartless was supposedly a Dire Plant with an orange and white palette, so she and the other three kept that in mind as they searched.
After taking about half the day to look around, the four finally found Olette's Heartless by the Old Mansion. It put up a pretty good struggle, but the four were easily able to kill it anyway. After it's defeat, the Heartless released Olette's heart, which started to float away. However, Xolette remembered how George was able to collect and contain hearts when the two, Nihil, and Xylnn served Avina by destroying worlds, so she managed to grab it and absorbed it into her being, until at least she could release it to be used in the vessel.
A couple of days passed. Sure enough, Xolette got the call from Iezno. The vessel was ready for her Somebody to use. She, along with Pence and Hayner, made their way back to Radiant Garden and headed to the castle lab, where Even and the others were. The trio walked down the hall to the lab, with Xolette carrying a suitcase containing the outfit that her Somebody wore during the second Keyblade War. Once she and the two boys entered the lab where the three scientists were, they saw the empty vessel resting on the examination table.
Connected to the table on the left side was a housing unit to put Olette's heart in. Meanwhile on the right, there was what seemed like a pod more than large enough to house a fully grown human being in. Xolette walked over to the table and looked down at the blank shell.
Soon enough, Olette would have her own body again, without having to kill her Nobody off to do so.
Xolette closed her eyes as she thought to expel the heart that was still resting within her. A few moments later, she glowed a light yellow and the heart floated gently out of her body. Grasping it tightly, Xolette walked up to the housing unit and placed the heart inside, making sure to seal the unit to make sure her former heart didn't float out and disappear into Kingdom Hearts.
Right after that, Even and the others led Xolette over to the pod, where they did some short extra steps to make sure that everything was set and finalized. They tried to explain what they were doing, but all of it was a far higher level than Xolette could understand. But she basically got the gist that the pod was there for her to stand in, while the procedure to bring back Olette was underway. The whole procedure worked similarly to how Somebodies would reform after their Heartless and Nobodies were destroyed. Because Xolette was still alive, she was going to channel part of her consciousness, along with a copy of all her memories, into the vessel, while the heart would be fully transferred into the vessel. If everything worked correctly, both the heart and part-consciousness would fuse into Olette's sense of being, bringing her back into existence. Xolette stepped into the pod, and after she did so, Ansem, Even, and Ienzo got to work.
The procedure took a lot less time than what Xolette thought. Eventually, she was let out of the pod, and she walked up to the table. The shell was no longer blank, but now had Olette's appearance. It was even dressed in the outfit that Xolette had brought in the suitcase. Xolette couldn't help but smile again as she saw her Somebody slowly open her eyes, revealing her original green color. Once the girl could sit up and move around, and felt fully adjusted to her new body, she got off the table and walked over to Hayner, Pence, and Xolette.
"You guys... brought me back?" Olette asked.
Xolette nodded.
"Yeah, I figured you deserved a second chance at a life. I'm still you, but it's not the same without you around." Xolette replied.
Olette smiled.
"Thanks. The boys could never last without me." Olette said.
Xolette gave a smile chuckle.
"You have a point there." Xolette said.
Hayner slowly approached Olette.
"Olette... do you remember anything? Up to this point, I mean?" Hayner asked.
Olette nodded.
"Yeah. I remember everything from Xolette. I remember going into the pod and then... ending up on the table." Olette replied.
Hayner sighed in relief.
"Good. So everything worked out in the end." Hayner said.
Pence nodded.
"Yeah. Welcome back, Olette." Pence said.
Olette smiled.
"Thanks, Pence." Olette said.
Hayner waved for her, Pence, and Xolette to follow him.
"Come on, then. Let's go." Hayner ordered
Before leaving, they went to thank Even, Ienzo, and Ansem the Wise once more. Even wanted to be able to ask Olette some questions, but Xolette stopped him and said it would probably be best for another time. The two females, Pence, and Hayner then left the castle and headed down into the town. As they walked, Pence spoke up.
"We should head back. The others will be overjoyed to see Olette back." Pence said.
Hayner and Xolette agreed with him. Olette didn't reply back, but she kept walking alongside Xolette. Though as they walked, she started to slow down and then came to a stop. Her Nobody and the two boys turned around and saw her staring at the ground. The three walked back to her.
"Something wrong, Olette?" Hayner asked.
"I just… I just don't know, really. I didn't expect this to happen." Olette replied.
She looked up at him, Pence, and Xolette.
"What am I supposed to do now? Xolette essentially took over what I left when I died back on the beach. I don't really have anywhere to live or anything. I don't know what I'm going to do with my life." Olette replied.
"Well, I never did "take over" your life. I was just living my own life, Olette. But, if you really need somewhere to stay, you could stay back at the house with me and Mom. She'll be happy to see you again." Xolette replied.
She chuckled.
"It will be like having an older sister." Xolette said.
Olette rolled her eyes, though a smile appeared on her face.
"Yeah, an older sister who looks and sounds exactly like you because she is you in every way." Olette said.
Xolette's smile turned into a smug smirk as she looked at her Somebody.
"Well, almost every way. I am technically older than you." Xolette said.
Olette giggled.
"True. In a sense, it is. But at the same time, you're like my younger sister. It's... complicated." Olette said.
Xolette nodded.
"Yep. I guess... it wouldn't be so bad to be sisters, then." Xolette said.