I ran.

That's all I did.

I got up from that spot and I just ran. I ran a few feet, eyes burning and water still pouring from them. I remember throwing my hand into the air and trying to summon the dark corridor, only to remember that I had run away from the Castle…just to be with her. My vision was cloudy and I couldn't think straight. My throat was burning, as if I were holding back a giant scream. I looked to my left and my right and every direction in between. I didn't know where to go. I couldn't go back to the Castle. I couldn't stay here. I couldn't just go back to the clock tower and pretend that none of this happened. I hunched forward a bit, bringing my sleeves to my eyes in attempt to wipe the water away. I pulled them back and observed what was falling from my face. Maybe I, too, was broken.

I continued to run. I ran until the sun set, and then I stopped. Bright neon signs illuminated Twilight Town. I paused at an alley way. I had stopped leaking water, and I felt nothing…as I should. I have no heart. I stopped but I didn't sit down. All I could do what stare. All I could think about was what I had left behind at the clock tower. But I didn't want to think about it, even though it buzzed around my head. And it made me sick.

I threw my hood over my head and continued.

I didn't run anymore, just walked. I didn't know where I was going. Hell, I was probably going in circles. But I continued, until…I felt a presence, or several presences for that matter, draw very close to me.

And then it went black.

I awoke the next morning a bit too early. My head killed, and I felt like my body was made of lead. I couldn't get up…not just yet…

Hours later, I opened my eyes to familiar surroundings. I was…in my room. At the Castle That Never Was. This didn't make sense.

I sat up, peering down at my sheets. There I was, in my boxers. My coat laid on the ground in a heap next to the bed. I'm confused. Had I been here the whole time?

I brought my knee up and rested an elbow on it, running my hand through my hair as I tried to recall the night prior. Only, my hair felt sticky, and so did the rest of my head. I was…sweating. Weird.

Slinging my legs over the side of the bed, I kind of sat there for a minute, not knowing what to do. I didn't understand why I was here, or why I felt so…empty. I mean, I had always felt this way. That's how Nobodies are supposed to feel. And yet I felt even worse than that. I felt like everything I had ever liked had been taken away from me in an instant, and on top of that, someone punched me in the gut.

But, I guess it couldn't hurt to explore.

About an hour later, I peered out of my room, fully dressed. I didn't see anybody in the hall. Seemed safe enough. I slid out.

Now, mornings at the Castle are different than normal places. For instance, most worlds have things called restaurants, where people come and they're shown a piece of paper that lists a bunch of names of foods and dishes, and they tell this person what they want off that list, and the person makes it for them. I guess that's how they eat breakfast. But here in the Castle, you have to fend for yourself. No one cares what you eat, when you eat, or if you eat at all. So what usually happens is that everyone separates to go into different worlds to visit these restaurant things. Usually, me and Axel go to Twilight Town and eat there. For breakfast, he always gets things that a normal person should eat. Like, eggs and bacon and sausage and stuff. And then he orders a big glass of really sour lemonade to spoil it all. I don't know, he's weird. I always get these flat little brown cake-like things, smothered in thick syrup. I never get sick of them, just like how I never get sick of sea salt ice cream. Axel gets mostly healthy stuff, I get hotcakes, and…and she…always gets…

Hrnh. My head began to hurt, hurt bad enough for me to grasp it, at least. Something was wrong about the last part of that…sentence…

I feel myself getting dizzy so I grab onto the door frame of the Grey Room, which, surprisingly, is empty. Maybe everyone is out eating.

All of a sudden, I feel a hard pat on my back that almost knocks me over.

"Heya, partner. Ready to go?"

I turned around to see a head of flames atop a well-spirited looking Nobody. Axel.

He walked around me, slightly grinning, stopping in front of me and waving a hand in front of my face. "Earth to Roxas. Let's go. I'm starving, man."

At first, I didn't know what to say. It felt like it had been years since I'd last seen Axel. And hadn't we had an argument? I was surprised he still wanted to go to breakfast with me. Then again, he has this knack for blowing off arguments as if they never happened. I can't seem to do anything but stare and nod, however. He gives me this weirded out look before turning around and opening a corridor. We both step into it, and moments later, we're in Twilight town. The sun was still rising there.

Our normal place to eat is this small shop ran by a moogle, bearing much resemblance to the one that hangs in the corner of the Grey Room. He gets our food and then we usually take it to the clock tower to watch the sun rise. I seem to have forgotten all about the existence of munny, however, so today Axel paid for both of our meals. He squinted at me as he forked over the cash. I could only imagine our conversation over breakfast.

It gets a little harder for us to eat meals while we're hanging over the ledge of a very high tower, so we usually just sit on the roof of it, instead. Axel sat himself down and pulled his boxed meal out of the paper bag he'd been carrying, then pushed the bag toward me so I could get my own. Except I didn't sit right away. I stood there and looked like an idiot, watching him prepare himself to eat. He noticed, too. He sat in the space between the building and the edge of the tower, pressing his back against the wall and letting his legs rest on the edge like a footstool. Then he would place his box on his stomach and eat his food like that. While he positioned himself and unwrapped a plastic fork, he looked to me, as I hadn't moved. He threw me another really awkward look and gestured towards the spot next to him. "Well, sit down," he said, and jabbed his fork into a sausage patty. I shook my head quickly as if I had just woken from a daze, let out a stuttery "yeah", and plopped down in my spot. I looked at the brown bag next to me. For some reason I wasn't feeling too hungry, but I pulled out my own box so that Axel would stop giving me odd looks.

"So what's up wiff you, man?" Axel asked through a mouthful of patty.

"Uhhh, y'know…nothing much I guess…just another day," I lied, looking to the opposite direction. Last I checked, I'd left the Organization. But maybe that was just a dream…

He swallowed. "No, I mean, what's up with you? Why're you acting like a zombie again?" he shot me a sarcastic smile as he waved his plastic fork at me. Unfortunately, I wasn't in the mood for jokes. I looked back to him slowly, furrowing my brows. I've had enough of this confusion. Nothing was making sense –why I woke up in the Castle, why Axel and I were talking as if nothing had happened between us, and why I felt so…empty. I gave up. I pushed my untouched meal off of my lap and I stood up and looked down at him, fists clenched. "Stop it already!" I shouted angrily, throwing my arm out at him. "What happened yesterday? I know I left! And…and why are you acting like nothing happened?"

That was enough for him to stop eating and give me a cold look. He looked at the ground quickly and then back up at me. "I don't know what your deal is, but it's too early for this," he said, shaking his head and turning back to his meal. I know Axel and I know when he's bullshitting me. This was definitely one of those cases.

"Stop lying! What happened to me? Why am I here? And…and where…" I had trouble drawing out the words. I hadn't thought about it until this moment, and I was suddenly hit with a huge wave of something called "sorrow". My anger dropped and I looked down at the ground. "…where is…she?"

"Now I'm sure I have no idea what you're talking about," he argued, picking at his bacon. I had the biggest urge to pick up his box and throw it over the edge of the clock tower. The anger inside me resurfaced and I could feel my blood begin to boil. I grunted, pulling at my hair a bit, trying to think of how to say everything but I lost control and it all came out at once.

"WHERE IS SHE? WHERE IS THE GIRL WE'VE BEEN SITTING WITH THIS WHOLE TIME?" I screamed, gesturing like a madman. I threw my arm to the spot next to me. "RIGHT HERE! She…she sat RIGHT HERE WITH US EVERY DAY! HOW CAN YOU PRETEND SHE NEVER EXISTED? HOW CAN YOU FORGET..." I trailed off, looking down at my clenched fist. My voice quieted down. "…How can you forget about…"

"Enough, Roxas! Let it GO!"

He startled me. I looked at him. He was now standing, his meal box shoved to the side like mine. He stood in a defensive pose and his eyes raged with a sort of emerald fire that gave me enough reason to step back.

"You think you can do…WHATEVER you WANT," he began, rolling his eyes as he turned his head to the side. He looked down at his hand, and for a moment, I honestly believed he was about to summon his chakrams. My eyes widened and I took another small step back, but I didn't say anything.

"Why can't you just let this go!" he boomed, "She's gone now, Roxas! Get over it! Your memories of her are long since faded by now and so are mine!"

"That's a lie!" I spat, stepping closer to him. "She was our friend! She was our best damn friend! And I remember her because I cared for her, and I know you did too! You can sit there and pretend you don't remember a thing about her but I know for a fact that you remember just as well as I do how she sat right HERE with us EVERY. DAY!"

With that, I dropped a knee to the ground and paused. I kept my head down for a moment because I could feel that weird lump in my throat again. But he continued talking, and I looked back up to see him. It sort of hurt.

"…I'm…so sick of you…looking at me like that." I could hear the anger in his voice, the way he paused in between words as if he was holding his rage back. "Looking at me like…I've just drowned your damn puppy," he hissed through gritted teeth. He looked down at his fists, which were clenched rather tightly. "And you have no right to look at me like that…after all I've done for you! I...SAVED you. I SAVED your ass so many damn times. Both of yours. Don't you ever forget that. You wouldn't even be here with me today had I not done something about her—"

"Shut up! Shut UP!" I stood up sharply and raised a fist in preparation.

"No! You listen to me, Roxas!" Axel reached over and threw my hand down. "If I hadn't brought her back to Xemnas, they would've destroyed you instead! She was your competition, Roxas! It was you or her! She was just a damn replica but you're the real god damn deal, you moron! The Organization needs you. That's why you're back here. Because I BROUGHT you back. I found you yesterday and I BROUGHT YOU BACK TO WHERE YOU BELONG! She was lucky because she ended up sacrificing herself. But if they had found her instead…" he trailed off. His shoulders sagged a bit and he frowned. I knew exactly what he was feeling at that moment.

"…Had they found her, let's just say that the last memory you would've had of her was watching her be ripped to shreds."

I wanted to continue. I wanted to fight. I wanted to argue because I didn't understand how he could just let her go and try to make me believe she never existed but that right there shut me up. I opened my mouth to say something but nothing came out, so I looked down, and I shuffled my feet, and I gave in. I turned and I sat back down in my spot and threw my box down onto my gut and jammed my unwrapped fork into a cold pancake. I didn't say a word.

Neither did he. He quieted down and rubbed the back of his head awkwardly before returning to his box much like me. For a few minutes, we sat in silence and picked at our food. Neither of us knew was to say.

I guess that's because everything that needed to be said, was said.