I woke up to my alarm blasting the radio at me. "All right, all right, I'm up," I mumbled, staggering across the room to shut off the infernal device. As I slammed my hand down on the off button, I noticed something clenched in my fist. Walking over to my door, I flattened out the crumpled piece of paper that I had fallen asleep holding. Looking at it, I smiled slightly. It was a drawing of Sora and I sitting together on Destiny Islands, watching the sunset.

A couple of seconds later, I ripped the drawing in half and flung the two pieces towards the trash can. "Who do I think I'm kidding?" I spat to myself, stalking out the door. "Being sentimental gets you nowhere." I slammed the door shut behind me so hard that the walls shook. Today was not going to be a good day, I just knew it. Stumbling down the hall, I pulled a stale bagel from the pocket of my coat and began munching on it. Sure, we had a perfectly serviceable breakfast buffet, but that meant facing Nobodies, and that wasn't something I felt even remotely capable of in such a bad mood.

A gloved hand slammed down onto my shoulder. "Good morning, Riku," Xigbar said with a grin. "The day's treating you well, I hope? Is that bagel tasty? Can I have a bite?"

I groaned internally. "Morning, Xigbar," I said, not even trying to sound polite. "The bagel is two days old. I doubt you'd want it." I took another bite and chewed. "So, why are you even talking to me, again?" I knew that my disgust of Xigbar was clear, and that was exactly how I wanted it to be.

Xigbar didn't even flinch. "Saix said we're partners today for Heartless hunting in the World that Never Was. Exited?"

"Very," I replied coldly, sounding anything but. "Ready to get this over with?" I didn't enjoy any of the Organization work, but it gave me something to do and a place to sleep at night. Even if the mattresses were terrible.

Xigbar shook his head. "I still need breakfast. Why don't you come with me and throw that disgusting bagel away? Come on."

I begrudgingly followed Xigbar, since his tone had made it very clear that I didn't have much of a choice. Ugh, I thought to myself. I hate Nobodies. Or at least most of them. Demyx is okay, and so is Axel, but all the others are terrible. Roxas would be okay if he wasn't so naïve. He's just as bad as—

As Xigbar opened the doors to the buffet hall, a wall of sound blasted us, interrupting my train of thought. Judging from the noise, Demyx must've decided to give another one of his "concerts". Sure, he was a good musician, but he had no sense of how loud to set his speakers. Today, his playing nearly blew out my eardrums, and I clamped my hands over my ears as fast as possible in an attempt to save myself.

Follow me, Xigbar mouthed, pointing towards the buffet line. I followed him as fast as I could, desperate to escape the direct blast of Demyx's sitar-playing. Even facing the others would be better than having blood streaming out my ears due to noise damage.

I filled my pockets with bagels and joined Xigbar at a table with Marluxia, Zexion, and Larxene. As I sat down, Larxene brushed her arm against mine and sent a painful electric charge through my right side. "Sorry," she said with an impish grin, barely audible over the music. I glared at her and scooted a few inches away. See? This was why I hated the others.

We all sat and ate without speaking to each other until Demyx finished. As soon as he walked out, Marluxia breathed a sigh of relief. "Thank God that's over," he moaned. "I should really fix his speakers one night. Set them so that they can't play above volume 8."

"I threatened to mess up the tuning on his sitar last night," I offered cautiously. "Want me to act on that?"

Zexion glared at me. "He'd still play loud; it would just be out of tune. That would be even worse." He went back to his stack of pancakes, still looking as though he wanted to murder me. Of course, the feeling was mutual, so I wasn't expecting anything kinder.

I looked at the clock at the wall. "Xigbar, we'd better get going. Finish up eating or I'll leave without you." I just wanted to get out of Castle Oblivion—I really did hate the place. And the people. And the mattresses.

"Fine!" Xigbar shoved the rest of his eggs into his mouth and began chewing frantically. "See? Done!"

"Okay, let's leave then." I opened a shadow portal to the World that Never Was, and Xigbar followed me, waving to the others as he left. None of them waved back.

Xigbar immediately began bounding after Heartless with a manically pleased look on his face. Great, I thought to myself. I knew today was going to be bad… now I'm stuck with this knife-obsessed nutcase. Thanks, Saix. You've really made my day.

I followed him, picking up the Hearts that remained after the creatures were killed. It was boring work however, and before long, my heart really wasn't into the task.

You know what? You deserve a free day, said a voice from the back of my mind. You haven't had vacation for a while, and you barely got any sleep last night. Xigbar will just be happy that you're gone.

Taking only a split second to think, I dashed toward a side alley when Xigbar wasn't looking. Spotting the nearest fire escape, I began to climb up the side of a skyscraper. There were always really cool views from the tops of the megalith buildings.

Reaching the top of the building, I took a look ahead of me and froze, my Keyblade silently appearing in my hand. Two figures were standing near the edge of the building. One was obviously Saix, but I couldn't recognize the other. Then, as he turned, my heart nearly stopped. What was Sora—Sora, of all people—doing here, less than a mile from the headquarters of the Organization?

This day just can't get any worse.