Chapter 3
The 3rd Day

A shield...
Similar to the Keyblade...
Yet opposite in alignment...
With a keyhole instead of being a key...

Alexander awoke with a start, throwing off his covers and sitting up straight. It wasn't his usual morning routine by a long shot, but he was determined not to lose the thought that had crossed his mind. Blinking a couple of times, he held up his right hand and stared at his palm.

"A Lock...shield?" he mumbled to himself. Could that possibly be what that strange shield was called? The name... sorta fit his observations. That made it the pure opposite of the Keyblade.

But, then again, Alex was reluctant to make assumptions so soon. After all, he'd only had the thing for all of sixty seconds.

Still, it merited investigation. Alex got up, ate breakfast, got dressed, and headed out into Twilight Town once again. Some discussion with his friends might turn up something.


"Oh, hey Alex!" Pence called out from the sofa, seeing Alexander entering the usual spot. Hayner and Olette were there as well, and they gave him small waves in greeting.

"Hey guys," Alex said as he walked in. He fell silent and took a seat in the chair next to the sofa. The expression on his face was a thoughtful one. He wanted to bring up yesterday's events up, but he didn't know how to go about it.

The other three teens, it turned out, were having the same difficulty. Olette awkwardly tried to create conversation by saying, "So... did you sleep well?"

Alex sighed and shook his head. "Hardly. I could barely stay asleep last night. I was in and out, waking up so many times with some new idea about what in the world is happening here."

Well, there it was. Pence sighed and said, "Yesterday's photo thief really got everyone talking. Some people are kinda scared now."

Hayner growled. "Man, today's turning out to be a drag. Summer vacation's about to end, there are supposedly monsters running about... The Struggle's tomorrow, and we've still got the independent study to do!"

"Why don't we just do the homework today?" Olette asked pointedly. "Get it over with?"

"Naw," Hayner was quick to reply. "Today's forecast is dull as it is." He got off the heater, and began to walk toward the entrance to the usual spot. "So, how about this? We all go to the beach! And why do we go to the beach? Because we haven't gone once this entire vacation!"

Turning to Alex, he said, "Besides, it should be good for you to get away from this Nobody business for a while. C'mon! Blue seas! Blue skies! Let's just get on the train and go!"

But he was met with silence. Alex, after a moment, said, "Actually, Hayner... I was thinking of looking into that Nobody business today. Some recon, or something like that."

"Besides," Pence added, "maybe you forgot, but we're kinda broke."

Hayner shrugged. "Shouldn't be hard. Find some odd jobs on the bulletin, and we'll be rolling in cash in no time!" Looking back at Alex, he said, "You sure you don't want to go?"

Alexander nodded at him. "Sorry. The beach really isn't my thing anyway."

Hayner honestly looked a little bummed out at that. "Aw, man... Alright, if that's what you want to do."

Olette sighed. "Alright, alright. A ticket to the beach costs 900 munny. ...So that makes 2700 munny for the three of us. Are we gonna buy anything while we're there?"

"Let's add another 300 munny each," Hayner replied. "We'll use it to buy pretzels or something."

Alex did the rest of the calculations. "So that's 3600 munny. How much do you guys already have?"

"650 here," Pence replied.
"800," Olette reported.
Alex fished out his wallet. "I can give you guys my 200 if you want."

Hayner took the wallet and fished out the munny. "Thanks, Alex. That's a total of 1650, which leaves 1950 left. And divided by three, that's... uh, 650? Yeah, 650 munny for each of us to earn."

Alex double-checked the math in his head. It seemed to be correct. When he looked back at Hayner, the young man was already running out into the alley. "Come to the station with cash in hand!" Hayner shouted as he dashed off.

Olette shook her head. "Well, there's no stopping him now, is there?"

"Aw, c'mon," Pence remarked, beginning to walk out. "Those pretzels are starting to sound good." He and Olette looked back at Alex, and Pence said, "Good luck with the investigation, Alex."

Alexander simply waved at them as they walked out of sight, and smiled until they no longer were able to see his face. Once they were gone, though, he let his usual frown return. He would be in this alone for today. Oh well.


At least he already knew where his first destination would be. Alexander boarded the tram in the Tram Common and rode it over to the far wall. He got off there and walked toward the hole in the wall on that side. The old mansion on the other side of the woods was an excellent place to begin. It was where all of the suspicious stuff happened, so it was a prime target for investigating Nobody activity.

As soon as he entered the woods, however, Alex felt a chill run through his spine. If the Nobodies were really after him, then what was stopping them from attacking him at any time? Sure enough, he looked ahead and stopped at the sight of a dark portal appearing in the air a few yards away. "Uh-oh," Alex muttered, already not liking his situation. He recognized this kind of spatial anomaly from the game, but seeing it in person was whole new experience, and not a pleasant one at that.

A Dusk floated out of the portal and landed in front of it, facing Alex. Soon another Dusk appeared, and another, and another, and another. The portal closed after a handful of Dusks had arrived, and they began to advance toward him. Alex remained where he was, stricken by fear. He once again had no weapon to fight them with.

One of the Dusks grabbed his wrist with its long arm, but Alex quickly pulled out of its grip and stepped back. "Ah! G-Get away!" he shouted, but this did nothing to deter the advance. He ran back through the opening in the wall, back into the main town.

Alexander looked around at the town, and was surprised to see that there was no one around. Usually there were a couple of random people here and there at this time of day, but there was no one! Alex looked back at the hole in the wall, and saw that the Dusks were in swift pursuit. He bolted forward, running through the Tram Common as quickly as he could.

"Hey, someone! Anyone!" he yelled at the top of his lungs as he ran, with the Dusks only a couple of feet behind him. But no one answered, and Alex was forced to keep running. He ended up reaching the hill of the Station Heights, and the Dusks were still following. Alex kept on running, the slope making his retreat more difficult.

"Hayner! Pence! Olette!" he called out as he ran past the shops and buildings, hoping that someone would answer. They should've been working here or something! And yet again, there was no reply. Only the Dusks were with him right now.

Alexander came to the top landing of the slope, ending up at the clearing before the train station. He stopped and rested his hands on his knees, breathing heavily. He was running out of energy. But the Dusks weren't. Hearing them directly behind him, Alex staggered forward and resumed his flight. He looked up at the clock tower, and got a strange idea into his head. The top of the clock tower had only a narrow path, so why would the Nobodies follow him there? Not the best plan, but he was running out of places to run to!

He ran around the train station and found the access into the clock tower, and began to climb. It was a long climb up the stairs, made much more difficult by his necessity for speed, but he made it to the top in one piece. He ran around the back of the clock face and came to the front, coming to a stop just before the ledge.

Alex leaned against the wall and kept breathing heavily. Maybe he'd finally caught a break.

But an eerie sound convinced him otherwise. He looked behind him and saw a Dusk approaching from behind him, almost floating over the narrow ledge. Alex quickly stepped over to the front side, but saw another Dusk approaching from the other end.

He was cornered. Looking back and forth between the two Dusks, he muttered, "You guys never give up, do you?" Alex looked back over his shoulder. He was right at the corner of the ledge, an inch away from toppling over. One wrong step and...

Suddenly, Alex was forced to double over as he was whacked in the gut. "Urgh!" The Dusk in front of him had attacked by whacking its head into his gut. As the Dusk retreated, Alex clutched his stomach and took an involuntary step backward because of the pain.

His foot found no surface. "Woah..." Alex mumbled as he flailed, trying to return his balance back onto the ledge. But he was too far gone. He fell over the edge and began to plummet toward the ground below. "Aaaaah!"

This is the end! Alexander thought before his world went black.


Slowly, feeling began to return to his body. He felt kinda numb. Alex slowly opened his eyes and felt around himself. There was no ground beneath him. Was he still falling? No, there was nothing but darkness around him. It even felt like he was falling through some kind of liquid.

Alex found it a struggle to keep his thoughts straight. He was fatigued and in some pain, so he simply closed his eyes and allowed himself to dive further and further into whatever this strange phenomenon was.

After a few more moments, Alexander could feel himself leveling out and flipping back onto his feet. He forced himself to think straight, and searched with his feet for some kind of ground. He didn't have to search at all; he landed on his feet onto something metallic.

Alex's tired mind demanded what this was, but he couldn't quite grasp it. It felt familiar, but his disorientation clouded his thoughts. Absentmindedly, he took a step forward.

As soon as his foot fell, the darkness was suddenly cut back by an increasing light. A bright blue glow spread forth from his step, and the darkness retreated away in the manifest of a flock of birds. The retreating darkness ended when the bright blue glow had become a large disc in which he was the middle of. Alex looked up and watched the birds fly away and fade into the darkness around him, and looked down onto the circular platform beneath his feet.

His mind soon cleared, and the realization hit him all at once. This is an Awakening! he thought to himself. This was the proving ground for the power of one's heart, and Alex had seen both Sora and Roxas go through this process. What he was standing on right now, if he remembered correctly, was the Station of Serenity. The design of the platform beneath his feet was exactly the same as the one Roxas had seen in his station.

Your path is set for you.

Alex glanced back and forth as the hollow voice entered his mind. He realized that he naturally wouldn't find the source of the strange voice, but he was surprised to sense it nonetheless. Alex stood still and listened as the voice continued:

Value your prized possessions.
There is no time for being indecisive.
You must be strong.
Your journey begins in the dead of night.

Alexander was a little bit confused by these statements. They sounded remarkably similar to the answers Sora had available during the questions in his first Awakening. He didn't recall them ever being important in the second game, however. Then again, he didn't really have room to question his own Awakening, did he?

Power sleeps within you.

Alex looked around, and saw three weapons floating in the air around him, surrounded by pillars of light. One was a sword, another was a shield, and the last was a staff. Alex recognized this, knowing that this next decision would decide his style of abilities. The weapons represented the powers of the warrior, guardian, and mystic, respectively.

If you give it form...
...it will give you strength.
Choose wisely.

It wasn't even a choice.

He already knew which of the three was important to him. He'd made this decision long ago, back when he'd played the very first Kingdom Hearts game. He walked toward the Dream Shield and plucked it from the pillar of light. It's weight rested in his hands, no longer suspended by mysterious power.

Then, in a moment, it burst into bright light and faded into nothingness. Immediately following that, his hand was covered in a dark aura, and Alex winced as the darkness brought a freezing feeling to his hand. When the darkness faded, the strange shield from the day before was then in his grip.

Alexander looked back and forth, expecting some kind of ambush now that he'd acquired his weapon. But there was nothing. He heard a faint ringing sound, and turned around to see a doorway appear in a flash of light on the far side of the Station of Serenity. Knowing this was his only way onward, Alexander walked toward the door, opened it, and stepped through.

He now found himself on a series of platforms, forming what he recognized as the Station of Calling. Between each of the three pillars along this path he had to follow, there were bridges made of stained glass panels. It was quite a surreal sight.

Movement caught his eye near his shoe. He looked down and saw a black, flat object that began to retreat once he saw it. It looked like a large spider at first. But then it slowly gained a third dimension. Now it was a small, black, large-headed creature with bright yellow eyes and antennae.

Alex flinched when he realized what it was. It was a Shadow Heartless. But it was actually a lot larger than he'd imagined it to be. Understandably, since the camera angles in the game made everything look smaller. In the game, Shadows seemed to only come up to Sora's kneecaps at best.

In reality, these Shadows were much bigger. Big enough that their glowing yellow eyes were level with Alex's waist. Their sharp, dark claws looked that much bigger up close, too.

Alexander took a stance with the shield in his hand, and rushed toward the Shadow. As he did so, two more Shadows crawled along the platform and rose up to meet him.

Lockshield...

"Ya!" Alex swung the shield's blade at the middle Shadow in a wide berth, managing to strike all three at once. "Hyaa!" He then spun around and used the face of the shield to bash them, throwing them back to the edge of the platform. When the Shadows recovered, two of them became flat once more while the third remained and charged in. The Shadow swiped its claws at Alex's legs, but Alex brought in his shield to block the attack, and he bashed away the Shadow again in return.

The other two Shadows sneaked up behind Alex, rose up, and clawed at him. Alex winced as his legs got a couple of scratches, and he staggered backward, managing to keep his balance. The third Shadow returned and jumped toward him with claws out, but Alex recovered just in time to slice at the Shadow with the shield's blade. Alex ended up slicing it in half, and the monster dissipated into black smoke.

Alex grinned. He was capable of killing monsters now!

The remaining Heartless leaped up and quickly grabbed onto Alex's back, adding their weight to his and threatening to send him toppling over. Thinking quickly, Alex decided to go ahead and fall... backwards. He landed on his back, squashing the Shadows onto the ground, making them flat and two-dimensional once more. While they scurried around, Alex got back up and ran to the other side of the Station to create some distance between them.

The two Shadows resurfaced, and Alex charged once more. He sliced the two Heartless with horizontal slashes, and then bashed them both away with a finishing blow. The two Heartless faded away into darkness, and Alex was once again alone.

Alex sighed and straightened up, wincing at the pain in his legs. He looked down, but saw that there were no scratch marks on his legs. His jeans were torn slightly, but there weren't any deep cuts like he thought there'd be. Then again, maybe that was how this universe worked, in a way. They didn't show blood in the game, so maybe any damage that would leave physical marks was just converted into overall damage.

Deciding not to dwell on it for now, he stepped onto the path ahead to continue to the next platform. As soon as he got halfway, however, a small white portal appeared on one of the panels, surrounded by strange, crooked gray threads. A Dusk rose up from the portal, which closed beneath it. Alex scowled and ran toward it, and felt the strange instinctive feeling rising up within him again. He let it take over, and he reacted once more, using a Reversal to end up behind the Dusk.

The Nobody crouched and looked around in confusion, while Alex brought up his Lockshield and sliced downward with the shield's blade. The Dusk recoiled, and Alex slashed it once more before bashing it away with the full force of his shield. The Dusk landed lower along the path, and flew into the air as it recovered. Then it flew down low, rotating before lashing out at Alexander with a headbutt. This attack caught Alex in the chest, throwing him back a couple of feet. But he landed without falling over, and he was quick to come back. He used the Reversal technique once more – it was coming naturally to him now – and gave the Dusk one more bashing to destroy it.

Alex straightened up again, his breathing not quite so hard this time. He was beginning to get better at this fighting stuff. Being able to use the Reversal maneuver was crazy enough, but holding his own in close quarters? Downright amazing to the gamer-turned-fighter.

Well, he could hold his own against a few Shadows and Dusks, at least. That was an improvement on the last two days. Perhaps this was how experience and leveling up worked in reality?

The boy walked onward, still carrying the strange shield warily in anticipation of new arrivals. He stepped forward onto the next wide, circular platform and walked toward the middle. Suddenly, two more Dusks appeared and advanced toward him. Alex rushed toward the two Dusks quickly and used Reversal again. Both Nobodies were confused by the swift technique, and were left open again.

Alex grinned at this. They just had no learning curve, did they? He swung the face of his shield at one of the Dusks, bashing it and knocking it into the other Dusk. The two Nobodies became slightly tangled together as they crumpled to the ground. As they rose and tried to sort themselves out, Alex ran toward them and slashed at them a couple of times with his shield's blade. The two Dusks split apart and staggered back into their correct positions. But Alex simply used Reversal again and slashed one of them to oblivion while they were both dazed.

The other Dusk rushed toward him and tried to attack, but Alex brought up his shield to guard the strike. The Dusk rebounded off the shield's face, and Alex sliced at the Nobody in a counterattack. The Dusk was thrown aside, and Alex bashed the shield against the Dusk to finish it off. It exploded into nothingness, and Alex was alone again.

Alexander didn't want to waste much more time. If these fights were going to take so long, he had to begin running. He dashed along toward the bridge to the next platform, attempting to cross it as quickly as he could. But before he neared the next platform, two Shadows rose up in front of him, and Alex noticed two more appearing behind him. He was surrounded on a narrow path. Brilliant.

He thought for a moment, but knew that he didn't have so much time. The Shadows were already moving toward him. He ran toward the rear pair of Shadows and leaped over them, landing on a lower part of the bridge. Alex faced the Shadows again and smirked. Now he was no longer surrounded, and the Shadows only had the relatively narrow bridge to approach him with. This was a slightly better tactical position.

The two Shadows now in front of him, seeing his new position, readied their claws and leaped into the air. And since they were on higher ground, they managed to get farther into the air than Alex could reach from his position. Alex suddenly realized his mistake. He'd gone for the lower ground! He should've gone for the other side!

Alex lifted up his shield to defend himself as the Shadows came crashing down on him. The two Heartless landed on his shield, and Alex threw away the weapon in a panic. The shield clattered against the wall of the pillar under the platform behind him, and fell away into the darkness below, carrying the two Shadows along with it.

Again, brilliant. He'd just thrown away his weapon, and there were still two Shadows left. Alex panicked a little more, stepping back as the Shadows moved forward. Then, suddenly, his right hand was covered in the icy cold darkness again, and the shield suddenly returned to his hands. Just in time too, because the Shadows had gone flat and were attempting a stealthy strike. Alex stepped forward and created some distance between himself and the Heartless, just as the Shadows tried to attack.

Alex took a deep breath and rushed toward the Shadows. He spun around, rotating multiple times with his shield held out. He slashed the Shadows a couple of times, and then bashed them away. Alex stopped spinning just in time to see the Heartless dissipate away.

This was becoming difficult. He was holding his own fine so far, but these were just the basic types of enemies. And he'd panicked and made a mistake when he'd been surrounded. Hayner had been right; he was a novice to the field of battle. He was well-versed in theory thanks to playing these kinds of games so much, but brittle in practice thanks to his inexperience and lack of fitness.

Once again, Alexander dashed up the bridge, toward the final platform. On the other side of the platform there was a doorway not unlike the one he'd passed through before. Alex quickened his pace, determined to get through the door before more enemies arrived.

But as he got to the middle of the platform, his path was cut short. Three Dusks and three Shadows appeared in a circle around him, completely surrounding him from all sides. Alex held up his shield and glanced around nervously. Shadow, Dusk, Shadow, Dusk... There was no advantage or disadvantage to attacking a specific side. He'd just have to find a way through to avoid getting attacked in a pincer strike.

He had no more time to think. All three Shadows leaped into the air with their claws ready, and the Dusks charged with the intent to ram him. Alex, using a last-minute idea... dropped down to lay flat on the ground. The three Dusks impacted each other, and stumbled back in their disorientation.

Alex rolled over and saw the Shadows plummeting down toward him. He held up his shield and gave a quick thrust of the shield's face as the Heartless came close. The thrust knocked back all of the Shadows back into the air, sending them toppling aside. Alex got back up and attacked one of the Shadows quickly, landing three slashes on it and bashing it to make it disappear.

The Dusks finally recovered and renewed their efforts. Alex rushed toward one of them and used the Reversal technique to get behind it. The other two Dusks weren't effected, so Alex was only able to land a single strike on the stunned Dusk before he had to defend himself again. As the other two Dusks went low, Alex leaped over their attack and dodged it, landing behind the Nobodies.

The remaining Heartless went flat and began sneaking around, while the three Dusks attacked Alex again. Alexander responded by swinging his shield's blade at the Dusks. One of the Nobodies dodged it, but the other two were caught by the slash. One of the two Dusks that took the hit disappeared, having already taken a fair bit of damage. Alex followed up on the other one, landing two more strong bashing attacks on it to defeat it.

The two sneaking Heartless rose up again and clawed at Alex's legs, making Alex stagger and fall to one knee. The last Dusk took advantage of this adverse reaction and rammed Alex's back, sending him sprawling to the ground, groaning in pain.

Alexander winced as he tried to get back to his feet. He wasn't in the best of conditions. He could hear a faint ringing sound in his ears, which sounded rather familiar. If he had to make a guess, he'd say he was at critical health.

He looked above himself and saw all three creatures in the air above him, ready to make a simultaneous finishing blow. Alex growled but rolled like a log to the side, letting the monsters land where he'd just been a moment before. He then got onto his knees and weakly swung his shield at them. The Dusk flew up and over his strike, but the Shadows took the full force of it, which was enough to send them toppling over the edge. They'd been near the edge in the first place.

Alex staggered back to his feet and faced the final Dusk. He ran toward it and used Reversal again, ending up behind it once more. He swung a couple of times, using the shield's blade to slice its back. The Dusk exploded into nothingness at last, and Alex was finally done.

The boy fell back onto his posterior, breathing heavy. That faint but noticeable ringing sound in his ears just wouldn't quit, and he ached all over. That battle had really taken its toll on him. Still, knowing that there was no getting out of this, he shakily got back onto his feet and faced the door ahead. The only thing beyond that door was trouble, but he still had no choice. He just had to be careful.

Gritting his teeth, he opened up the door and stepped through. He was now on a single platform. The door disappeared behind him, leaving him stranded on that platform. This was what Alex recognized to be the Station of Awakening. This was where Alex had seen both Sora and Roxas fight boss battles.

Alex sighed and looked around, awaiting his doom. If he was going to fight a boss here, he was certainly doomed. In his condition – and with his level of experience – there was no chance of victory no matter what he fought. But as Alex stepped toward the edge of the platform, he found nothing appearing to fight him. So what was supposed to happen?

Of course, as soon as that thought crossed his mind, a slight rumbling began to shake the Station of Awakening. Alex staggered for a moment, but peered over the edge of the Station. He then flinched back as a large black shape rose over the edge and towered over him. It was a gigantic, pitch-black, humanoid creature with a heart-shaped hole in the middle of its body, and bright yellow eyes. Alex stared wide-eyed as the creature lifted up a fist. This thing was the Darkside Heartless! It was the boss that Sora had fought in his first Awakening!

Alex, fear dominating his thoughts, doubled back and ran toward the other side of the platform. He reached the other edge of the platform, but nearly found himself toppling over the side. There was nowhere to run.

At that moment, the Darkside brought down its fist and punched the platform with great force. The tremors that caused made Alex lose his balance, and he found himself falling over the edge of the platform! He began to fall, and the pillar on which the platform was supported tipped over as the Darkside forced it around. As the pillar tipped, it revealed another large creature that had been waiting in the darkness below. It was a white-armored, vaguely humanoid creature that was holding a gigantic sphere of shining blue energy in its grip.

Alex, as panicked as he was in his descent, couldn't keep himself from scoffing at the appearance of this second monster. That was the Twilight Thorn, the Nobody boss! Why the heck were both the Darkside and the Twilight Thorn at his Station of Awakening?! It wasn't fair! He was going to be killed!

The Twilight Thorn hurled the gigantic orb of energy at Alexander. As it came closer and closer, Alex could begin to feel the heat radiating from the sphere. That was definitely destructive energy. If he was engulfed in that stuff, he wouldn't be coming out of it at all.

Still, wasn't there that reaction that Roxas used to get out of it? In his fear, he wasn't able to notice the reaction building up in his nerves like the Reversal had.

So he tried to do it by himself, based on what he remembered.

He held back the strange shield, and then hurled it at the sphere. His aim was more or less true; it struck through the sphere and impacted the core of it. Right as it was about to touch him, the orb exploded, sending both him and the Twilight Thorn reeling through the empty space.

Alex, unlike Roxas who ended up landing back on the Station, kept on falling and falling into the dark abyss. He hadn't used the technique quickly enough; doing it sooner would've made the explosion send him back up to the Station. Instead, he kept falling and falling...


"Alex! You here?!" Hayner shouted as he ran up the Station Heights, ending up at the clearing before the train station. He could've sworn that he'd heard shouting in this direction... He was beginning to be worried. If that had been Alex, what was going on?

"Hayner?" he heard a young girl's voice say behind him, and turned to see Pence and Olette running toward him too. Olette looked around and said, "Did you hear the yelling too?"

Pence looked up at the clock tower... and gasped. "Look!" he yelled, pointing up at the top.

Hayner and Olette looked, and also gasped at the sight. They had looked just in time to see Alex tumbling over the ledge! "Alex!" Hayner shouted as the boy fell all the way down.

There was a sickening smash as Alex landed on his back, his body impacting the stone below. The other three teens, once they recovered from the shock, quickly ran over to the boy and investigated.

As Pence and Olette checked his health, Hayner looked back up at the tower again. He was just barely able to see two white flashes, and then there was nothing up there. But he was pretty sure of what had happened. "Nobodies..." he growled.

Pence caught the statement. "You mean Nobodies pushed him off?"

Hayner turned to his friends and knelt down next to Alexander. "Seems like it. I thought it was them when I heard Alex yelling." Looking at Alex's sprawled body, he said, "What's the damage?"

Olette removed two fingers from the base of Alex's neck. "Well, there's a pulse, but it's just barely there. I wouldn't be surprised if he broke some bones in his back on that fall, though..."

"We'll need a Potion to fix this up," Pence reasoned. "A Hi-Potion if we can get one. But those are pretty expensive..."

"That's it!" Hayner exclaimed in reply, standing up quickly. "We can use the munny we earned just now to buy us a Hi-Potion! Pence, Olette, give me what you earned!"

Pence and Olette shared a glance. "But..." Olette said worriedly, "what if the Dusks come back for him?"

"Get him over to his apartment," Hayner ordered firmly, his tone making it clear that there would be no argument. "I don't think the Dusks will bother you guys. Alex should be crippled by this fall, unless I can get him a Potion. If they'll be after anyone, they'll be after me. And I can fight the best out of the four of us."

Olette hesitated again, but Pence started withdrawing the munny from his own wallet. "Okay, Hayner," he said, handing over the munny. "It's all up to you." After a moment, Olette finally consented and gave Hayner her munny as well.

Hayner quickly counted. Just enough for a couple of Hi-Potions. Perfect. "Alright, I'm going!" he said, pocketing the munny. He started running back to the Station Heights, heading for the item shop below.

Pence lifted up Alex, and Olette helped him to carry Alex on his back. The two of them also started for the Station Heights, working to get down to the boy's apartment in the Tram Common.


Hayner dashed down the hill and reached the bottom landing of the Station Heights. He ran over to the item shop, and was silently thankful that the shop owner was still there. "I need one Hi-Potion!" he shouted as he ran up to the counter.

The shop owner was a little startled, but he shook his head. "Sorry, Hayner, but I'm clean out of those... What with the Struggle comin' up and all..."

"Gah..." Hayner growled. The Struggle was holding up every shop in town. Why today, of all days!? "Okay, can you give me a few Potions then? Like, two or three!? It's an emergency!"

Jumping in surprise, the owner knelt down beneath the counter and dropped an armful of Potions onto the counter. He then shrieked and ducked behind the counter. Seeing this, Hayner turned around to look behind himself. He flinched when he saw three Dusks staring him down!

Hayner looked from one creature to the next. He was in serious trouble. He didn't even have a weapon... "Great..." he said, looking back toward the Potions and then toward the Dusks again. "Just what I needed."

"Hayner!" he heard someone shout, and looked to see Pence a little higher up the hill, carrying Alex with Olette close behind. The Dusks noticed this exclamation and turned toward the three teens, staring at the unconscious Alexander instead.

While they were occupied, Hayner ran across the clearing to the weapons shop. This shop would be busy mass-producing Struggle clubs, but that was just fine. "I need a club, now!" he yelled to the weapons shop owner. The owner nodded and quickly handed over one from the rack next to him.

As the Dusks began walking toward Pence and Olette, Hayner ran between them and assumed a fighting stance. "Hey, Nobodies!" he shouted as he took a ready fighting stance. "It's me you want, not him! He's a goner if you don't take care of me first!"

The announcement seemed to work. The Nobodies focused intently on Hayner, and Pence, Olette, and Alexander slipped by. "Good luck, Hayner!" Pence shouted as they ran down the hill to the Tram Common.

Hayner nodded and faced the Dusks. Two more appeared out of portals to join the other three. Hayner scowled at this; he was going to be vastly outnumbered. This was going to be more difficult than any battle with Seifer had been. He started to sway from side to side, making sure that he was active in the moment of attack.

The first Dusk flew forward and tried to ram into him. Hayner jumped back, and then brought the Struggle club down on the Dusk. But the attack simply phased right through. He followed up and used a strong uppercut strike, but that simply fell through as well.

The Dusks regrouped, and Hayner became frustrated and angry. Darn it, he thought to himself, I'm trying to protect Alex here! Let me hit!

Hayner dashed toward the Dusks, feinted forward, and then dodged to the side. The Dusks were a little disoriented by the feint, which gave Hayner enough time to run up to one of them and swing his Struggle club. This time, the attack hit the Dusk, sending it recoiling backward. Hayner was excited by this progress, and used his uppercut strike to send it up into the air. He then spun around and swung the club in a wide berth, sending the Dusks around him away.

As the first Dusk fell, Hayner was there to meet it. He repeated his combo strike again on the Nobody, and the Dusk exploded into nothingness on the second strike. Grinning and relishing the adrenaline rush, Hayner turned toward the remaining Nobodies and resumed his stance. "Ha! How do you like that, you Nobodies!?"

Hayner soon found out that the Dusks weren't very prone to intimidation, because they all began advancing undeterred, ready to strike again. He simply remained where he was until one of them tried to strike with its head. Hayner defended against the strike with his club, so the Dusk's head ended up rebounding off of the weapon.

Getting an idea, Hayner grabbed the long, spindly arm of the Dusk. "Haha, let's dance!" he shouted, beginning to spin around with the Dusk. The Dusk, taken off guard by this tactic, began to flail wildly. In the process, it ended up hitting all of its comrades with random strikes, hitting all of its allies at least once or twice. Once the Dusk was beginning to get a grip in its situation, Hayner changed things up and threw the Dusk down onto the ground. The Dusk rebounded again, and Hayner swung down on the Dusk once more. This finally defeated it.

Hayner, not wasting any time, ran toward another Dusk and used his combo strike, swinging down on the Dusk and then using his uppercut strike. With the damage the Dusk had already taken, this was enough to make it explode into nothingness. Another Dusk rushed in to attack him, but Hayner dashed backward to avoid the strike, and used several quick stabs with the club to bludgeon the Dusk to defeat.

Breathing heavily but still psyched in the battle, Hayner turned on the remaining two Dusks. "Anyone else wanna try me!?" he shouted at the enemies. Suddenly, two white portals appeared beneath the two Nobodies, and the enemies faded into them. When the portals faded, Hayner was more or less alone in the clearing.

Hayner took a deep breath and finally relaxed. That had been tough, but it'd been worth it. He walked back over to the item shop counter, and picked up a couple of Potions. The shop owner was still cowering behind the counter. Hayner rolled his eyes at this, but began running down the hill to the Tram Common after dropping the munny on the counter. There was a reason for this madness, after all.


Pence and Olette walked into Alexander's bedroom. The house keys had been in Alex's pocket, so they'd been able to get in relatively easily. Pence turned around as they neared the bed and not-so-gracefully dumped Alex onto the bed.

Olette winced as she heard cracking sounds coming from Alex's body. She'd suspected broken bones, but that confirmed it. "Couldn't you have handled that a little more carefully?" she asked, adjusting Alex so that he was lying down properly on the bed.

"Sorry," Pence said sheepishly, but was thankfully cut off by the front door opening again. The two teens looked back to see Hayner walk into the room. He was holding a Struggle club that was resting on his shoulder, and he was carrying two Potions.

"Hayner!" Olette gasped. Hayner looked really tired; that battle with the Dusks must've been rough.

Hayner handed over the Potions to Pence and took a seat next to the desk opposite the bed. "Well, I won that fight," he said, knowing that the other two would've been wondering.

Pence didn't seem too surprised. Holding the Potions, he said, "Should we make him swallow them or should we just break them over him?"

As he dropped his Struggle club on the already cluttered desk, Hayner glanced over at Pence. There was a point to that question. Restorative items could be used in two ways: drinking them or simply breaking them over you. Breaking them was quick - it brought down the restorative aura of the item without any spill. Ingestion usually had a much more potent effect, but it took more time in the field of battle, and it left a horrible taste in the mouth. It was medicine, after all.

"Shove it down his throat," Hayner muttered, leaning back in the chair. "It's only fair, seeing what he put us through."

Pence chuckled a little, but opened up the Potions and poured them into Alex's mouth. The green, sparkling fluid moved through the boy's system, and a bright green aura surrounded him. There was more sickening cracks as bones mended in his body, but soon he was back to full health.

Alex's eyes shot open, and he began coughing hard. He blinked a few times, surprised to be back in his own room. He groaned, feeling sore all over his body. Memories of past hour or so came rushing to him, but left a hole as to how he'd gotten back to his room...

"Hey, that did the trick!" Olette exclaimed. Alex looked over in her direction, and his eyes widened at the sight of her and everyone else in his room.

"What...?" Alex croaked, his voice hoarse and accompanied by his groans of pain. "What happened?"

Hayner's expression became a pissed-off one as he rose from the chair and moved toward Alex. "You fell from the tower!" he exclaimed angrily, not at all happy with the day's events.

Pence nodded. "Man, that was a close one!" he said worriedly. "You're lucky we were able to bring you back and get you some healing Potions!"

"I... what!?" Alexander exclaimed, rising from the bed quickly. He moaned in pain again as the sudden action brought more pain to him, and he fell back down onto the bed. He churned through the memories of the day again, and he slowly nodded. "Yeah, I was–"

Then, a thought suddenly crossed his mind. "Hey, wait!" he said, propping himself up on his elbows to look at his friends. "I thought you all were going to be heading for the beach today!"

Hayner sighed. "That's just it. We were working up the munny for it, but then we heard you shouting after a while."

Olette nodded. "We came running up to the station as soon as we finished up with those jobs, and arrived just in time to see you... get pushed off the edge. ...It was quite a drop, so we brought you back here and got some Potions for you."

Alexander winced as he received unpleasant messages from his taste buds. "Is that why there's a bad taste in my mouth?" he groaned, sticking his tongue out a little bit in disgust.

"Yeah," Hayner said with a slightly sadistic grin. "I thought we might as well make you drink the stuff, instead of just breaking it like an adventurer usually does. For the trouble you caused, it only seemed fair. I had to fight a whole group of Dusks!"

Alex was most surprised by that statement. Hayner actually fought Dusks!? And won, by the looks of it. But... how was that possible? Only people with the Keyblade or affiliated with someone with a Keyblade... Wait, that shield was supposedly related to the Keyblade, right? And Hayner was technically affiliated with him...

"Ugh," Alex said, getting out of the somewhat confusing train of thought. "Not fair... I had to fight a bunch of monsters too, y'know. They cut me off at the woods, and I thought I could lose 'em at the tower..."

The worry and anger in the room quickly changed to intrigue. "Did that weird shield appear again?" Pence asked suddenly.

Alex thought about it. "No... Not while they were chasing me... Not until I dropped from the clock tower..."

The three teens shared a glance, and then looked back at Alex. "What do you mean by that?" Olette asked pointedly. "The shield wasn't there after you'd crashed..."

Alexander winced. He'd slipped and said too much. And unfortunately, Hayner noticed the reaction. The boy approached the bed and shouted, "Alright Alex, what the heck is going on around here!? How do you know about all this stuff? What did you do to get their attention? Something just doesn't add up."

Despite being caught, Alex made an effort to keep up his lie. "W-What are you talking about? That's the first time I've seen 'em..."

"And something else is bugging me!" Hayner added, starting to pace from one side of the room to the other. "You moved here right before this whole thing started. No relatives are here with you, even though this is a two-bedroom apartment. No one knows where you came from, but no one's really bothered by that!"

Olette and Pence looked between Hayner and Alex. Hayner was coming off as a little paranoid, but the increasingly guilty look on Alex's face was giving Hayner's points validity.

Finally, Hayner stopped pacing and rounded on Alex proper. "I think it's high time we got some answers. Where are you from, and what connection do you have to these Nobodies?"

The boy sighed and sat up at last. This was the clincher. There was no escaping the truth now; he'd never hear the end of it until he told the truth, and he couldn't possibly come up with an alibi without it being obviously false - it'd take too much time to come up with another good lie. It was just going to have to come out.

"I'm from a different... world," he said finally. "Well, different universe, really. Where I'm from... there's a video game series called Kingdom Hearts. It's a role-playing game based on the events and people that are here in this world and the other worlds in this universe. The Nobodies... were a type of enemy that the main character faces in the game. The existence of the Nobodies was explained in the game, so I learned it from that."

The other three were surprised by this. This was as far-fetched as far-fetched got. Pence shook his head and said, "Hold it. This game... is based on Twilight Town and other places like it? And all the people in it?" When Alex gave him an affirmative nod, Pence added, "...Are we in that game?"

Hayner and Olette stared at Pence. Was he taking this seriously? But they looked at Alex, who was silently nodded in response to that question. Hayner was incredulous. "So... you already knew about us?" he demanded. "And the town!? You were just... pretending not to know anything?"

Alex flinched again. That was a reaction he'd been somewhat working avoid. "Yeah... Well, not completely. The game's just based on the events here. ...When I first appeared in the town, I recognized it, but I didn't really know what was specifically going on."

"Appeared?" Olette echoed. "So you didn't really move in?"

"Nope," Alex replied, shaking his head. "That caught me by surprise. I mean, it looks like the world came up with an alibi for my existence here, so that I wouldn't look completely suspicious living here. This apartment," he added, gesturing at his room, "is exactly how it looks in the real world - my world - except that the rest of my family, the game, and the game's console aren't here at all."

Alexander looked up at the three of them. "And... yes, I did recognize you from the game. You guys are the main characters in this town."

"Characters!?" Hayner repeated incredulously. "We're actual people, y'know!"

"I know, I know!" Alex responded quickly, seeing the angry looks on his friends' faces. "Look, I-I didn't know you guys personally!" He suddenly looked downcast. "I... What I said before, about not having many friends in my neighborhood... That was the truth! I... I wanted to hang out with you guys because, in the reality of it all, I... haven't had people to hang out with before. And I didn't know you guys at all, so it was really a first for me."

Alex hadn't expected to pour out his soul so openly, so genuinely, but there it was. That was how he felt about this whole situation.

The three kids were stunned by this response. They looked at each other, and then back at Alex. Pence sighed, and said, "Hard to believe that all this stuff is just part of a game..."

Hayner smirked. "No, of course not," he said, catching the others by surprise. When he saw the others' confused looks, he said, "Well, if we're not real, then Alex here can't be real either. But since he's here, and he exists in the 'real' world... then we've got to be real now, don't we? We might've been just game characters before, but we're real people now. Right?"

Alexander took a breath of relief. He really liked that idea - it made this whole strange situation a little more sane. "I think so too. I discovered how 'free' you guys are as soon as you took me for that tour. It's not just game script anymore; you guys are your own selves, and no one can really change that." He looked toward the window and added, "But there are still some events that I recognize from the game. The memory thief incident was one of those events. I'll bet that if I try not to change things, it'll go naturally as it does in the game."

Olette nodded at him. "So what else happens in this... game? This story?" she asked, curious now.

"A lot," Alex said with a chuckle. "The first six days here in Twilight Town are only the beginning of the game. Then it moves on to the other worlds."

"So," Pence cut in, "is that weird shield part of this Kingdom Hearts game?"

Hayner nodded. "Yeah, what exactly happened to you after you fell?"

Alex scowled as he tried to find the right words to describe what he'd been through. "Well... I entered this kind of dream state called an Awakening. I recognized it from the game; it was where the main protagonists began to manifest their abilities. I had to focus my own power, apparently, in order to use that shield effectively. I had to fight quite a bit in that Awakening, but I lost overall..."

He sighed. "The Awakening I recognized. The shield... not so much. It's not part of the game. It kinda seems to be unique to me. I don't know where it came from, whether it's from me, or from something else... I never had it before I got here, so..."

"So you're just as much in the dark as we are," Hayner finished for him.

Alex looked sheepishly up at the angry teen. "Y-Yeah... That's about it. That's all I know. ...We cool?"

Hayner shrugged. "I just saved your life, so I think we're cool. But you owe me one."

"No. Argument. Here."

Hayner stretched and looked out the window towards the rest of the town. "You think the Nobodies know about this whole thing?"

Alex visibly paled at that. "Oh gosh. I never thought of that. Maybe..." His eyes went wide, and then he groaned and pressed a hand to the side of his head. All this wondering in his weakened state was giving him a headache.

Hayner took notice. "Either way, the next few days are going to be interesting around here." He turned toward the door and added, "Well, I think it's time we left. You're going to need your rest after today."

Pence and Olette also rose. "Yeah," Pence agreed, "just rest for today. The Potions healed you, but your body still needs time to recover its strength."

Olette followed Pence out of the room. "See you tomorrow, Alex."

Hayner was about to leave, but then he remembered the Struggle club he'd left on the desk. Picking it up, he said, "Yeah, that reminds me! I'm gonna sign you up for the Struggle today."

Alex went wide-eyed again. "Are you serious?" he said in a somewhat resigned tone.

"Yep!" Hayner replied with a grin. "The fighting in that tournament will give you a lot of practice if you're going to be facing more of those Nobodies. And you yourself said that you failed your own 'Awakening.' I'd say you need that practice."

"You just had to go and put it like that," Alex said, rolling his eyes.

"Just telling it like it is," Hayner retorted, walking back towards Alex. "Look, you can at least try, right? At the very least, try to get to the finals of the Struggle. I'll probably meet you there!" Hayner smirked and held up his arm toward Alex. "Don't lose before you fight me tomorrow."

Alex was surprised by this talk. He hesitated for a moment, unsure of what he should do. But, after a moment, he held up his arm and pushed against Hayner's. It was the seal on their agreement. Suddenly feeling a lot more confident, he said, "You're on."

Hayner grinned. "It's a promise."