Disclaimer: Kingdom Hearts, Final Fantasy, Disney, The World Ends With You, and all other characters do not belong to me. Original Characters Belong to Shadow Herald.

Warning: Story contains swearing, adult humor, romance, drama, violence, and other adult themes, you have been warned.

The engine of the silver Honda roared to life as everyone climbed in. Skylar climbed into the back, with Lukas letting Skylar get in first so he could position their luggage accordingly. Lukas then got into the seat next to Caius. All the doors except for driver's squeaked when they were opened. There was faint smell of alcohol looming in the vehicle.

"Really? A man your age drinking and driving?" Lukas thought aloud. "Aren't you s'posed to have some kind of infinitely profound wisdom or something like… not that?"

Caius glared at Lukas from his peripherals before meeting Skylar's eyes in the rearview mirror. "You're mistaken, the odor we're regrettable forced to smell comes from my passengers. I'm merely a chauffeur now. Most of my passengers take to the local pubs and clubs." He smiled at his unintentional rhyme.

Skylar started feeling very uncomfortable at the smell of alcohol. Once it found it's way into his nostrils is burned it's way into his brain and he started feeling tingly in his fingertips. He clenched his fists in response to his stomach feeling shaky too.

"H-hey. Can we listen to music, please? I don't mind if it's quiet… just something." Skylar asked before rolling down his window. The rain slowed down again to almost a complete halt so only the brisk air entered. "I'm feelin' queasy or something. I dunno."

"Feeling carsick, Master Kreiss?" Lukas said, imitating Caius's voice, which earned him a glare accompanied by a slow head turn.

Caius turned on the radio to the local pop station. Quick and repetitive drum beats filled the silence while Caius put the park in reverse and backed out of the parking spot he was in. He started driving to the end of the street where a stop sign was sun-bleached to a shade of pink.

"Before we continue any further, where would you like to head to first? To your hotel room or would you like a quick tour first?"

Lukas glanced at the digital clock displayed in the middle of the dashboard of the car. It was almost 10 p.m. but it felt like it was much later due to the dark clouds blocking out most of the moonlight. He turned around in his seat to look at Skylar who was staring out his open window blankly. Lukas snapped, causing to Skylar to jump in his seat a little and inhale sharply, turning wide-eyed to face the noise.

"Well, bug-eyes, whaddaya want to do then?" Lukas said, one eyebrow cocked. Skylar responded with raising his arms in the air and shrugging his shoulders. Lukas sighed. "C'mon man, you need to stop daydreaming."

"Like you're one to talk! All you ever did was daydream on the train here from New Bodhum." Skylar said, huffing. "If we're talking about the tour or whatever why not wait until it's light outside so we can see where we're going and like landmarks, man? It just makes more sense. We've been up for a while now anyways. Is that alright, Mr. Ballad?"

"You do have a point. Let us continue the tour another time, then." Caius said, turning right and heading down Lafayette street.

They passed many lit up buildings. Radiant Garden was known for its nightlife. Many businesses stayed open all the time to accommodate those who worked at night and other odd hours of the night. One building that stood out to both Skylar and Lukas was a club called Hollow Bastion. There were neon tube lights running along the vertical ends of the building that cycled through different cool color gradients. The music was loud and thumping, although it was rock music that was blaring. It was so loud that they could feel the vibrations through the window of the Honda.

"That's Hollow Bastion Night Club, nothing more than a building full of ruckus. Honestly, when those working during the day just want to sleep, you can hear the music from here almost three blocks down." Caius lulled the car into a slow stop as traffic near the club was thick and the light stops in town only stayed green for a few seconds before changing again.

Skylar and Lukas continued to stare in amazement. Their previous homes did not have any sort of club, let alone a night club. Skylar noticed somebody leaning against the building, under an awning by themselves. It was a girl wearing a matte green jacket over some black band tee, a pair of dog-tags hung loosely around her neck.. She was also wearing what appeared to be black jeans, and black combat boots. Bobbing her head to her own music playing in earbuds, she seemed to be in her own world, blocking everyone else out. Her green eyes met Skylar's own pair of blue eyes for a moment.

'Do I know her from somewhere?' Skylar thought.

Waves of pain began to wash over Skylar's head, and he held a hand over the pained area and winced in response The mysterious girl stood up from leaning against the wall, her eyes widened now. She seemed to have recognized Skylar, but before she could take any other steps a stranger who had just left the club half-stumbled, half-waddled his way over to her. Skylar couldn't hear what the guy said, and he couldn't read lips to save his life but he got the gist of what was said.

The Honda started to pull away from where it was stopped just as Skylar saw the girl flipped the guy over her body onto the ground, kicked him,and then flipped him off all while yelling something. The car had already pulled away before she noticed they were gone.

"What a crazy city this place is." Lukas muttered. "Isn't this like a scene out of one of those cheap, corny movies?"

"This is only the beginning of the cities antics, truth be told." Caius said in response. "This town is known for is notorious commotion. Luckily though, your hotel is a few block out of range of the ultimate insanity, you're located in a more average part of town."

"Well that's good, we're not used to the crazy city life, eh, Skylar?"

"Yeah…" Skylar muttered, still holding his head in pain. He noticed Caius staring at him in the rearview mirror again. He broke eye contact after a moment and turned into the parking lot of the Highwind Hotel. He parked in a spot close to the entrance and turned the car off.

"Here we are," Caius bellowed again. "Highwind Hotel. Mostly drifters pass through here so you'll be the first patrons to have an extended stay, something the staff won't mind one bit."

The building was tall, at least five or six stories high. The building looked simple in design, but very elegant. Each floor of windows had different color curtains, but they were all in shades of yellows, oranges,and reds. The building itself was painted a reddish brown color.

Lukas unbuckled himself and got out of the tiny car, then he stretched. It wasn't easy being 6'3" but it had it's advantages from time to time. Now was not one of them. He opened the backseat door and saw Skylar trying to reach for the handle from the inside. Skylar looked disappointed that he couldn't reach it and sighed, handing Lukas his large backpack. He then grabbed his own and hopped out of the car, reaching in one more time to grab their suitcase. It was a plain hand-me-down brown bag on wheels filled with toiletries, towels, and their sleeping sheets.

Lukas looked at his watch, since the car was now off, and saw it was 11:15. It was really starting to get late, for some people. For others their day was just getting started. Lukas looked over his shoulderand saw Skylar staring at the moon, something he did quite often. Skylar didn't have any dreams, but when it came to the moon and the stars he could only wish to see them up close.

Caius finally got out of the vehicle himself and headed straight for the door. Lukas walked over towards Skylar and tapped him on the shoulder, his expression full of annoyance. Skylar sighed at the thought of returning to reality. He started walking towards the sliding glass door entrance, the loud luggage bag rolling along behind him. When the entered the building both Skylar and Lukas stopped, taking in the sight in awe.

The hotel was luxurious, despite Caius saying it was a drifter hotel. There was red and gold carpet that lined the entire lobby. Gold painted pillars rose to the ceiling here and there. To the left was a large room with chairs and couches, with someone playing a cello. It was a boy with spiky black hair who looked younger than Lukas, but older than Skylar. He was wearing black slacks with black dress shoes and a matching blazer and tie over a gold, collared shirt that matched his eyes. They were a burning gold, and were only visible every now and again when he opened them to look at his instrument while swaying to the jazzy rhythm. It was slow, and hypnotic, and seemed to put even the musician himself into a trance.

To their right was the reception counter where a single girl with short black hair and vibrant blue eyes were staring at the new guests. She had to be no older than twenty, but she looked older than her years in the maroon dress shirt and black slacks she was wearing, the lobby employees designated outfit. Regardless she greeted them with a smile. "Hello," she chimed. "Welcome to the Highwind Hotel. Will you gentlemen be staying with us?"

Caius walked to the counter and handed the girl an open letter. She read it quickly and her eyes widened, slowly raising her head and looking at Caius. She took something attached to the letter and placed it under the counter, out of sight.

"Alright, Mr. Ballad, I'll make sure these two are a-accommodated!" The girl said, stuttering a little on the last word. A look of disbelief crossed her face as Caius nodded at her, then at the boys, and then left the hotel. She looked relieved to have seen Caius leave. "Alright… Hi there, you two, I'm Xion, Xion Valentine. And you are?"

"Well I'm Lukas, and this is Skylar." Lukas said, pointing to Skylar, who was still focused on the cello player. He smacked Skylar on the arm. "Yo, earth to Skylar, we're introducing ourselves!" Skylar broke out of his trance immediately and spun around on his heels, holding up his hand to greet the girl.

"Heh, sorry about that, he's just really good at the giant violin-thing. I think It's a cello? Yeah cello. Like 'jello' but with a 'ch' sound. Anyway I'm uh…" Skylar started to trail off as looked closer at Xion. She was pretty, in a subtle way. He felt his cheeks redden. "I'm Skylar Kreiss, nice to uh, meet you." He looked away as soon as he could, focusing on the nearest pillar. He muttered something along the lines of, "nice pillars…" under his breath. Skylar totally bombed talking to girls, and he hated doing so.

Xion stifled a giggle before turning around and dialing in the code for the personal safe that sat on the counter behind the welcome desk. Once she opened the door after spinning the dial to the correct numbers. She pulled out a key with a tag that said 'Room 4-1, Reginheraht'. She held the key out to Lukas, who outstretched his hand and let the key fall slowly into it.

"Now finding the room should be simple," Xion said slowly. "All the doors have their respective numbers on them. The first number designates the floor, and the other the room number for the floor."

Lukas looked at the label on the key, reading the word 'Reginheraht' slowly. None of this still made any sense. Yes, the boys were alive, but what did he care? They held no relationship with him. They had only heard of the man, nothing more. It seemed a little too coincidental.

Skylar turned back to look at the mysterious cello player while Lukas and Xion chatted for a bit. The musician's ears twitched and his eyes shot open, his golden eyes piercing right through Skylar. A slight grin had crossed his lips as he continued to play without a hitch. His arm strokes on the cello had slowed, noting the end of the song. Skylar looked over his shoulder to see that Lukas was propping his head up with his hands, his elbows on the counter. He was muttering something to Xion, who was blushing. Skylar breathed a small laugh and returned his attention to the music.

The song ended and Skylar golf clapped slightly and turned around to see that Lukas was gone, with Xion sitting there, staring at Skylar with a smile. He felt his cheeks redden and tried to speak, but Xion just pointed towards the ceiling, meaning Lukas had already started heading up.

"Elevator?" Skylar hurriedly asked with Xion pointing to the hallway on her right. "Thanks!" Skylar said booking it for the elevator. He had just rounded the corner to see the elevator closing shut with Lukas staring at him blankly as Skylar couldn't get the doors to open again. "Dammit! That jerk!" He looked to the left and say a door labeled 'STAIRS'. He inhaled deeply, opened the door, and begged his legs to keep their strength.

He sprinted up the stairs to the fourth floor, huffing along the way. When he quickly opened the door to the hallway he saw Lukas sprinting for the door at full force. Skylar followed through but Lukas was faster, having spent a lot of time living off the land. Skylar had almost made it into the room before a body pushed him out.

DID HE JUST TACKLE ME OUT OF THE ROOM?

Skylar sprinted full force towards the door to have a face full of old oak wood with a following SMACK. He was dizzy and hit floor with his butt. Their neighbor had opened their door and shushed him loudly before returning to their room. Skylar sat there, his head pounding, staring at the white-painted door in front of him.

"Room 4-1? More like room 4-get it…" Skylar said, rubbing his forehead.

It wasn't a great day. Today was weird. Today hurt. The door of the room suddenly opened a crack, and Skylar scrambled to his feet to get into the room. Once he got inside, he made his way to the closest bed, plopped onto it, and started to fall asleep. Nothing else mattered.

"You're still really slow…" Skylar heard Lukas say before he passed out.