Hannah stares at the application in her hands. She didn't say anything when she got home, or during dinner: her parents had been preoccupied with something, saying nothing more than "How was school, honey?" and exchanging anxious glances. Odd that they wanted her back early, but never said anything to her. To be fair, she spent most of the time in her room planning how she would bring up the arcade application to them.

She takes a deep breath. It's now or never. One last time, she runs through what she's gonna say. She hopes that her parents would really appreciate she took the time to prepare an argument. She tightens the belt of her bathrobe before quietly opening the door and slipping out, the application behind her back. Sweat forms on her forehead, but she wipes it off and brushes her hand on her pink flannel pajama pants. She glances up at the clock on the wall: 10:29. Her parents should be having their late night coffee right now while discussing something, usually politics. Blech.

The closer Hannah gets to the living room, the more she can hear her parents' hushed voices. She peers around the corner and softly says, "Mom? Dad?"

Her parents stop talking and turn on the sofa to see her. "Hannah, honey," her mother says. "We were just talking about you."

So far, so good. "I wanted to talk to you guys about something."

"Well, sit down, pumpkin," her father says, gesturing to the chair across from the sofa.

She tucks her blonde hair behind her ear, making her way over. "What's that behind your back?" her mom asks.

"I'll tell you later." She plops down. "So, um..." She clears her throat. "I've been thinking about getting a job."

Her parents beam. "Oh, Hannah," her father says, "that's wonderful! We were actually mentioning we thought you were old enough to start working now."

Wow, this is going better than I thought. "I actually found a job I really like in town, and I wanted to know if I could work there. I can head over right after school."

Her parents exchange nervous glances. "Honey," her mother begins, tapping the side of her mug, "we're not staying in town. We're moving."

Hannah freezes. Did her mom really just say -

"It's true," her father adds, seeing the look on his daughter's face. "I'm getting a new assignment, and they're transferring me to Travis. But we found a house in Vacaville, so you won't have to live on base."

"Vacaville? But that's so far away!"

"We're sorry, Hannah," her mom says. "We would've told you sooner, but the paperwork for the new house just went through."

It fully hits Hannah. She's moving again. She'll never see the arcadians again. "But what about my friends here?" she says.

"You'll make new friends at your new school," her dad says.

"It's not the same!"

"Maybe your friends can come up and visit you," her mom suggests.

"That's impossible! They can't leave the games!" As soon as she says that, she regrets it.

They give her a funny look. "Games?" her mom repeats.

Oh, great. "Never mind."

"Do you mean tournament games?"

"...No. Video games."

Her parents scowl. "Your friends are inside video games?" her dad says. "Is that what you do at Litwak's all day, talk to games?"

"Not all day." Please stop talking about this, guys.

"Hannah, this is not normal. The people inside the games are fictional, made up, not real."

She facepalms, really at a loss for words.

"I knew that Litwak was a bad influence on our kids," her mom snaps.

Her dad complains, "He's turning our kids' brains to mush through his mindless games, making them confuse make-believe with reality."

"It's not like that!" Hannah says, taking her hand away from her face. "Mister Litwak's a great guy! He's my friend!"

"Just because you see him every day, Hannah," her mother says, "doesn't mean you're friends."

"You don't understand!"

"We understand," her father says, "that you spend too much time at that arcade as it is, playing those games and what not."

"I love those games! And I hope there's an arcade in Vacaville where I can work!"

Her parents look stern. "No daughter of ours will ever work in an arcade!"

"But that's where I wanted to work here!" Hannah takes the application from behind her back and shows them. "See? Mister Litwak personally asked me to work there."

"That man's a terrible influence on you!" her father declares, snatching the application from her hands.

"Hey! Give that back!" Hannah grabs for it.

Her father rips the application in two.

She stares at the halves floating down to the coffee table.

"You will not work for Litwak's or any arcade," he says. "Are we clear?"

Hannah's lip trembles and her vision blurs with unshed tears.

"Are we clear?" he repeats more loudly.

"Clear," she says with a heavy voice. She rises, heads back to her room.

"We're just doing this because we care about you, Hannah," her mother says.

Hannah whirls around, a couple tears, not trying to hide the crack in her voice. "If you really cared about me, you'd let me work at the arcade!" She turns and runs back to her room, shutting the door and locking it. She leans against the door and slides down, letting the tears flow as she hugs her knees to herself. "Why?" she keeps whispering.

She hears footsteps coming down the hallway, and she sniffs once before quieting herself. The doorknob jiggles, but she doesn't do anything.

"Hannah?" comes her father's voice. "Let us in, pumpkin."

She doesn't respond.

"I don't know what's gotten into her," her mother whispers. "She's never acted like that before."

"She's probably just tired," her father whispers back. "Midterms are coming up in school, after all."

"Hopefully, she'll be better in the morning." Her parents' voices fade as they walk to their own room.

Hannah sniffs once more, then straightens and undoes her bathrobe, draping it on her desk chair before climbing into bed. She takes her glasses off and sets them on the nightstand next to her before rolling onto her side and crying herself to sleep.

She's running through the dark forest. "Grandma!" she calls out. "Grandma!" The two of them had been running away from the Experiments, but they got separated when they came to this forest.

Even with the moonlight, it's too dark to see anything. But she stumbles on. "Grandma, where are you?"

Boom.

She freezes in place. What was that sound? Where did it come from?

Something rustles in the bushes. Wide-eyed, heart racing, she steps back from the bushes. Her eyes dart around, looking for anything she can use to protect her from the...from the...

Dog. A yellow dog with a thin black tail and a green collar pops out of the bushes. A smile spreads on her face, and her heart rate slows down. "Hi, boy," she coos, bending down and holding out her hand.

The dog smiles back at her and steps forward, sniffing her hand before licking it.

"Awww." She scratches him behind the ears. "You're a good boy. Yes, you are."

The dog enjoys the attention - but then he sees something behind her and stands rigid, emitting a low, short growl. Curious, she turns around to see...

Kairi gasps loudly, suddenly waking up. She pants as she sits up, taking in her surroundings. No dark forest, no creepy shadows. Just her same old room in Hollow Bastion. Whew. This is reality, not a dream.

These dreams are getting out of hand, she thinks, putting her hand to her head. They started a month ago after that talk with Sora about heroes. After that one weird vision. She and Vanellope had promised at the party not to share that vision - or anything similar - with anyone, but she feels the need to share this dream with someone.

Kairi swings her legs over the side and stands up, making her way to her bedroom door. She opens it, peeks out, checks both ways, then slips out of her room. Whenever she passes someone in the hallways, she makes sure to smile at them, but she doesn't stop to talk, determined to get to Vanellope as soon as she can. She rounds the last corner.

"Oh, sorry!" she says, almost bumping into Sora and Riku.

"It's okay," Sora says. "We weren't looking where we were going anyway."

Kairi steps around them. "Well, I should go."

"Wait!" Sora says, holding out a hand to her as she walks away. "Where are you going?"

Without looking back or stopping, she says, "To talk to Vanellope. I'll be back later."

Sora watches her go concernedly. She's not acting like herself. He considers going after her, in case she needs any help with anything. "Ow!" he says when Riku elbows him in the ribs. "What was that for?"

Riku, with a huge smirk on his face, says, "I think you know what it was for, Lover Boy."

"What are you talking about?"

"Dude, for the past month you've been checking up on her every day, doing favors for her every now and then, and staring at her like she won't come back." Riku mocks his friend's forlorn expression.

Sora bites his lip. It's true, he's been more attentive to Kairi lately, but only because he knows something's wrong. Before the return of King Turbug, he'd never given a second thought to how she felt playing a dormant character throughout the whole game. It wasn't until she used the Keyblade he started seeing her in a whole new light. "Only heroes can use the Keyblade," he remembers from a backstory memory. Since then, Kairi's been acting strange, like something heavy is on her mind. He only wishes he can help her - and figure out how she can be a hero.

"I'm just a nice guy," Sora says.

"Yeah, nice with Kairi." Riku laughs as Sora playfully glares, the two of them getting into a mock fight.

Even though Vanellope's not feeling very tired or sore, as soon as she gets to Sugar Palace she heads to her room, at her dad's request. Candy then makes his way to the hospital wing, where the bear claw safety crew dropped off Swizzle. He pushes open the door and says, "How are you feeling, my boy?"

"Other than my leg, I feel swell," he says, hands behind his head, settled into the white hospital bed.

Citrusella, the only racer to stay behind, says, "Something's off with Vanellope. She told me she had one of those visions again."

Candy walks forward, eyes downcast and hand to his chin in worry. "This is terrible. She can't race like this. We can't keep asking Felix to fix all our broken karts. He's already come five times this past month."

"Then tell her that," Citrusella says.

He stops right by the bed. "But will she listen to me? She's the rightful ruler after all."

"Dude," Swizzle says, "this is a constitutional democracy. Everybody has a say in stuff."

The king doesn't look so sure.

"You're her dad," Citrusella says. "She'll listen to you."

Candy mulls over this. How do I be a dad? After a minute of contemplation, he lowers his hand and sighs. "I'll see what I can do." He bids the racers farewell and makes his way to Vanellope's room. The whole time, he's wringing his hands, worrying about how to tell her she can't race. Be a good father. Be a good father. He walks slowly, stalling, but too soon he comes to her doors. There's no escaping this moment. With a shaky hand, he knocks.

"Come in!" chirps Vanellope's voice.

"It doesn't sound like you're resting, my dear," he says, opening the door.

Vanellope's jumping on the bed. "I don't feel tired at all!" She lands on her back, laughing.

Candy approaches her. "But, sweetheart, you were just in an accident. Shouldn't you rest?"

"Aw, but I'm not tired," she says with an exaggerated pout.

I can't do this. He turns away.

"C'mon, Grumpy," Vanellope says...but seeing her dad look so serious and sad makes her stare up at him concernedly. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing, I'm just..." He's tongue-tied.

She scoots over a few times and pats the spot she had been sitting on. "You can tell me," she assures him with a grin.

He mechanically goes over and settles on the covers, not meeting her hazel gaze. "Vanellope," he begins, "there are some that...I think that," he changes, shyly looking up, "for the sake of your well-being, and the others', you don't race for the next few days."

"What? That's not fair!" She frowns. "Why not?"

He almost changes his mind - but he remembers Swizzle and Citrusella. With a small shake of his head, he tells her, "Honey, you caused an accident today."

"But it was just because of those stupid dreams!"

"But, sweetheart, they're becoming a problem." He rests a hand on her shoulder. "I don't want to see you get hurt."

"I know," she moans, slouching and glaring at her comforter.

Candy hangs his head. He hates seeing his little girl so upset, even if he's protecting her. "I'm sorry," he mutters.

Vanellope rests her chin in one hand and says, "So what the huckleberry am I supposed to do now?"

He thinks about that. He tries to remember what she did before he was locked up: the two of them used to race during their free time, when they weren't helping their subjects, when they weren't talking to Turbo...

"Dad? Dad?"

Candy snaps out of his thoughts. "Hmm, what?"

"You were just sitting there staring at nothing," Vanellope says. She crosses her arms. "You're not having visions now, are you?"

"Oh, no, sweetheart, I was just thinking of...Turbo." He cringes at the name.

Vanellope shifts so that she's facing her dad, sits cross-legged, and grins. "Don't worry about him, Pops-icle. That stinkbug's gone forever."

That voice. So young, so innocent... He squeezes his eyes shut when a painful memory arises, but his trembling lip betrays his feelings.

Vanellope's at a loss right now. She's trying to cheer her dad up, but so far it's not working. "Um, Dad?" she asks.

Candy wipes his eyes. "Sorry, my dear, it's just...for the longest time, I thought you were dead. I watched Turbo rip the cords from your code box. He showed me your tiara, telling me you were gone forever." He hangs his head and covers his face with his hands.

That's right. Last month, the surge protector had shown Vanellope the pixel ball of memories. She remembers watching all those heartbreaking scenes from the past sixteen years. Man, no wonder her dad's so moody. She pats his shoulder and says, "It's okay."

"And then I never saw you again until last month." He sniffs and wipes his eyes, though his eyes are still red. "I just don't know how to be a good father anymore." He tries to do his usual chuckle, but it comes out more of a whine.

"You worry too much," Vanellope says, sitting up on her knees. "Yeah, Turbo was rotten, and yeah, you were in the fungeon for years, but it's okay now." She makes a ridiculously stern face and wags a finger at him. "So cheer up!"

"How?"

She grins mischievously and pounces on her dad, poking him in the sides and ribs. He looks surprised for a second as he's knocked over, but then starts laughing as he squirms to get away. "V-Vanellop-peheehehe, dohohohon't!"

"I'm not stoppin' 'til you lighten up," she tells him, tickling him more.

His laughter rises a few pitches. "Plehehehehehease! Ho ho ha ha ha!"

"Nope."

"Hee hee hee! F-F-Fihihihine!" As best he can, he lifts a hand up and pinches her side. She flinches, but that pause is all he needs to push her off and tickle her back.

Vanellope's laughter fills the room. "Dahahahad, stohahahap!"

"Do you think I've lightened up enough?" he asks playfully.

"Yeahahahaha!"

"Good. Ho ho!" Candy stops and straightens.

It takes a couple moments for Vanellope to stop laughing and settle down, but then she smiles up at her dad. "See? You can be lots of fun when you're not mopey."

"That was fun, wasn't it? Hehe."

KNOCK KNOCK! "Vanellope?"

Vanellope beams and bounces off the bed. She knows that voice anywhere. "Kairi!" She cheers her friend's name a couple times as she dashes to the door and opens it wide to show her redheaded friend.

Kairi smiles brightly. "Nice to see you, too." She steps inside and notices Candy in the room. "Oh, King Candy! I'm sorry, I didn't know-"

"That's alright," he says, sliding off the bed and walking to the door. "Vanellope and I were about done anyways." With one last glance at her, he says, "We'll talk more later." He shuts the door behind him.

"Talk about what?" Kairi asks.

Vanellope leads her friend over to her bed and says, "Dad says I can't race for a few days, so I'm tryin' to figure out what to do."

"Does it have anything to do with the laughter I heard coming down the hallway?"

"Maybe," she says slyly.

Kairi grins, but then she gets serious. "I need to talk to you about something."

"Is it about those dreams?"

"Have they been bothering you, too?"

Vanellope leads her over to the bed and they both plop down on the comforter, Vanellope tossing Kairi a mint-colored pillow. They always hold pillows when they talk, in case they need to hit or scream into something, or just hug something for comfort. The president grabs a chocolate-colored pillow and fiddles with a corner. "It was so weird. Today when we were racing, I heard someone shout 'faster, faster' at the same time I saw a sugar cube power up. All of a sudden, I saw a cy-bug where my kart should be, and I kept thinking how in the vision I said, 'Faster, Sugarcube, Faster!'"

"Sugarcube was the name of the cy-bug in the vision?"

"Yeah, doy. After that, I freaked out, slammed on the brakes, crashed into Swizzle, and the rest is history."

Kairi pats her friend on the shoulder. "I'm sorry, but at least you're not badly hurt."

Vanellope grins and nods. "Still around to make fun of you guys."

The redhead laughs. "We would definitely miss your insults."

"Oh," Vanellope says, making a sappy face and putting a hand on her heart, "I feel so special now!"

They laugh. When they're through, Kairi says, "Thankfully, my dreams haven't interrupted gameplay, during or after hours, but after the arcade closed tonight I took a nap - and the dream I had scared me so much I woke up."

Vanellope remembers last month having weird dreams. They didn't really scare her, but they were bizarre - later she found out they were memories. But if these dreams and visions are supposed to be memories, too... "How creepy was your dream?" she asks.

Kairi hugs her pillow and says, "I was going through a dark forest, calling for my grandma. I don't even have a grandma in the game. Anyways, I'm walking along when I hear something rustling in a bush - but it's just Mickey's dog, Pluto. I'm petting him until he growls at something behind me. I turn around, and then I wake up."

"Whatcha see?"

"No creature like I've ever seen before."

"Not even in any other game around the arcade?" Vanellope smirks.

The Princess of Light shakes her head. "Everyone we know has faces."

The smirk drops. "Wait, so-"

"That thing I saw in the forest had no face, was really tall, really pale, and wore a black suit with a matching tie. I stared at it - then I woke up."

"Whoa. That is weird."

Nod. "I wonder if it has anything to do with that creepy carnival at all."

KNOCK KNOCK!

"Come in!" Vanellope shouts.

The door opens enough to show Sour Bill. "Mmm, Ralph and Felix fixed the karts and Swizzle's leg."

"Awesome!" The president bounces off the bed. "Now we can race tomorrow!"

"I thought you couldn't for a while," Kairi speaks up.

Vanellope remembers the talk with her dad, and immediately her smile vanishes. She stops jumping and kicks the ground. "Aw, come on!"

Sour Bill adds, "Ralph says he wants to see you downstairs."

"Well," Kairi says, sliding off the bed, "looks like I'd better go."

"Already?" Vanellope says.

Kairi grins reassuringly at her friend. "When you're done, we can grab a root beer and talk some more."

She grins. "Alright!" She turns to the cough drop. "C'mon, sourpuss, let's go!" Vanellope dashes out of her room and down the hallway, Sour Bill hurrying after her.

The surge protector grabs the light for "Kingdom Hearts" and drags it out, like a window on a computer. The light opens like a code box, revealing everything belonging to the game: characters, places, timeline...events and memories. He taps a couple of boxes and a pixel ball appears in the middle of the room. He watches the chain of events in the game, from intro to finale - but he's focusing on Kairi.

She literally does not appear for most of the game, and when she does, she's a sleeping damsel in distress. The last event finishes, and the pixel ball disappears one pixel at a time.

He scratches his head. So far, none of the events or memories suggest that Kairi can use a Keyblade. So how was she able to use one last month? he wonders.

He closes the two windows and starts pacing the room with his hands behind his back - but then the "Kingdom Hearts" light starts beeping again.

The surge hurries over and opens it again, anxious to know what the beeping's about now. He drags the light out - and a message pops up: "ASHPD Piece Detected. Activate?"

"ASHPD?" What's that supposed to mean? And what would happen if he did activate it? Not wanting to travel down that road yet, he taps the "no" button, and the message disappears.

He groans and drags a hand down his face. "What's become of my archiving code?" he mutters.

A/N: Sorry if this chapter was too long. I'll try and keep the chapters kinda short, but in this case, there wasn't any place where I could break it off and keep the flow.

Last chapter's phrase was "Hammer-Time." Congrats to D's Vault and Ways for getting this right! :) This chapter's phrase is related to one of the seven dwarfs. Good luck!