DISCLAIMER: I am lucky; I own a Mac, a bike, hair elastics… Kingdom Hearts, however, is not mine.

Chapter 4- The Problem, part two

Sora, Roxas, Riku, and Axel were all lying in the grass, looking up towards the sky. The place where they were looked so ordinary that it seemed cruel. It was taunting them by saying that it could practically be their own world.

'Only there are a million differences' Sora thought to himself, as he gazed up at the night sky. Wherever they were there was not a single star in the night sky. It was an unnatural inky black, exactly the way Sora felt.

Kairi barely looked at him throughout the entire day, as well as Namine. Despite his attempts to get her to remember him, Kairi had not remembered anything whatsoever. She otherwise seemed the same, except she lacked any recollection of them. Namine was the same, if not worse. She seemed so distant with Sora, who'd she'd always been so open with.

"So they haven't remembered us yet…will they ever?" asked Sora of the others, a little fearful of the answer.

" I'm not even sure if it IS them anymore. They seem so…clueless," said Roxas worriedly.

"Wait," said Axel, holding up a hand and smirking "I thought you knew that profile anywhere."

"That's just it; they're exactly the same, except they don't remember anything," said Roxas, not to be put out by Axel's sarcasm.

"Maybe it's Castle Oblivion all over again," suggested Riku, rolling over to look at Namine and Kairi.

Roxas shook his head no. "No, we're in a computer. It's not going to erase your memory."

"How do you know?" Axel asked, propping himself up on one arm.

Sora sighed and looked at the starless sky. It was going to be a long and lonely night.

Kairi lay on the scratchy grass and tried to get comfortable. A gentle wind rustled her hair. Beside her Namine sighed contentedly. Kairi looked over about twenty feet away where the guys were conversing in low voices. Kairi still asked herself why she had come with them in the first place. Although they looked completely foreign, she couldn't help but trust them. Something about them gave her a sense of security.

Not to mention the incredibly cute redhead.

"Why are we with them, Kairi?" Namine asked, as if reading her thoughts. That was the way they were. They were so close they were practically sisters.

"Why not? They almost…remind me of someone. I just can't think of who," Kairi responded. "They keep saying that we've lost our memories, and are really their friends. Maybe I want to know if that was real: if we were ever friends with them. They feel so familiar, and I just want to know the truth about them. And look me in the eyes and tell me that you don't like that Riku guy."

Namine giggled. "Yes, but it isn't often that we decide to pack up and go with any random stranger that walks bye and knows our names, know what I mean?"

Kairi nodded. "You're right. This is probably really stupid. Let's stay with them one more day. If we still don't remember anything, we'll leave. If they try to keep us here, we scream."

The sun rose to find everyone except Roxas fast asleep. He sat, his head in his hands, contemplating what was going on. How could he sleep when Kairi and Namine were so…different? What was wrong with Namine and Kairi? What had happened to them? Why couldn't they remember? They'd always been such good friends…was this some sort of cruel joke?

Beside him, Axel sat up and yawned. "Whoa, it's cold," Axel shivered slightly and got to his feet.

"Not really." It was a slightly cool sort of day, a bit damp. "Should we wake them up?" Roxas gestured towards the girls, who were a sleep a little bit away. They looked calm and peaceful. Exactly like the Kairi and Namine would look in real life. Roxas shook himself. 'What am I talking about? This is real life!' he thought. The stress was making him crazy.

Axel, who apparently was indifferent to the situation, shrugged. "Sure."

They walked over to where the girls lay. Gently leaning over her, Roxas gently shook Kairi. "Wake up, princess," he said, hoping that the use of his old nickname might spark some memory.

Kairi opened her eyes with a smile on her face. The smile faded, however, when she say Roxas standing over her. A look of disappointment crossed her face instead. Roxas felt upset himself. She used to smile when she'd seen him…why the sudden change? Why was he now a disappointment, instead of her friend?

Kairi's smile was polite as she sat up. "Good morning, Roxas," she said kindly. She turned to Axel and her smile widened slightly. "Good morning, Axel."

Axel, still unnerved by the fact the Kairi was being perfectly friendly to him, looked very wrong-footed. "Good morning?" he responded warily.

Kairi got to her feet, brushing herself off. "Wake up, Namine!" She said joyously. She was very chipper and clearly a morning person. Her eyes sparkled and she looked energized, exactly as her real self would.

'Real Self?' There he went again, as though this were some sort of game.

Namine slowly opened her eyes. Then she rolled over and sighed. "I was having such a nice dream," she said to the ground, but she got to her feet.

"Good morning!" Sora smiled, walking over, Riku at his heels.

"Oh, hello," Namine smiled, her whole manner changing at once. She was positively beaming.

"What?" demanded Riku of Namine, confused about why she wouldn't stop smiling at him.

"What?" responded Namine innocently, moving closer.

"What?" asked Roxas angrily. What did she think she was doing?

"What?" questioned Sora, who had noticed nothing and was only now tuning into the conversation.

"Huh?" asked Axel, breaking the trend.

"There's no way your Namine," Sora stated in dumb disbelief at the blonde girl who kept on winking at Riku. "If you were, I would KILL you Riku."

Riku shrugged. "I didn't ask for this…I can't help these stunning good looks, you know."

Axel scoffed. "Good looks? Nonexistent good looks maybe…and what do you want?" he asked Kairi (was it really her?), who giggled and smiled.

Axel stared. "No. Way." He turned to Roxas. "I think you were actually right about them…there is no way this is Kairi."

Roxas didn't answer. He subconsciously clenched his fists.

Kairi leaned against Axel, smiling. Axel, looking as though he had been punched in the face, moved away. Kairi again closed the distance between them.

Axel looked at Roxas, looking for a clue as what to do. Roxas just glared. This would be hilarious if it wasn't Kairi…

At that moment, there were yells and an angry horde of people can running at them.

"What have we done now?" asked Sora, eyeing the leader of the mob anxiously.

"IMPOSTERS!" shrieked the girl with short black hair and chocolate brown eyes. "Lock them up! Squall!"

A man with dark brown hair and a menacing-looking sword proceeded to the front of the group. "My name is Leon," he corrected her. A blonde man dressed in all black came up behind him, also looking ready for a fight.

"Leon! Cloud!" Sora called with relief. "Thank god it's you! You have to help us-"

"How do you know my name?" asked Cloud suspiciously.

"I told you! They're spies!" yelled Yuffie, for that's who the excitable girl with the black hair was. "Throw them in jail!"

"We- what?" asked Riku, also confused.

'Wow,' thought Roxas as Cloud approached him, waving his sword 'maybe this is more serious than we thought!' That was his last conscious thought before Cloud raised his sword over his head and brought it crashing down. The world went black.