Merle lounged, waiting for Dog to return. He always would, it was expected.
Sure enough, at the exact moment she knew he'd return, he did. It always took him the same time to recover from being ported.
"Mistress," he greeted her with a bob of his head.
"What did you make of Sora, pet?"
"He is headstrong, stubborn and impulsive. He appears to be simple-minded at times, but is far from it underneath, and justice is paramount to him. This has caused his joining us to trouble him, as he sees our power as an evil that he doesn't want, but has to bear because there was no choice. There is also an unusual connection I felt while in contact with him, to another individual that is much like himself. Lastly, there is some connection to the robed person we saw while in the arcade in the floor above. He did not appear to notice it himself, but there was a definite connection. I could not obtain anything useful about it, however."
"No matter. What about the robed person?"
"I'm afraid I cannot say anything about them, mistress. All I did was see them."
"Project me an image of them, pet."
Dog closed his eyes in concentration, then extended one closed hand, opening it palm up. As it opened, an image of the figure appeared, life sized, beside him.
"An interesting person, wouldn't you say, pet?"
"I couldn't say, mistress," he replied, concentrating on keeping the image in focus.
"I want you to go on down to the tenth floor offices, and have them start looking for anyone like this. Don't have them brought in just yet. Just watched."
"As you wish, mistress."
Seifer returned the table Sora was at, bringing him a drink.
"You know, there was a time I would have done anything rather than have a drink with you?" he asked, taking a seat.
"Yeah, I know," he replied distractedly.
"It's still bothering you, isn't it?"
"I can't even say my own name if someone else would hear it. It's kinda annoying."
"Do what I did. Create someone, and just be them."
"So if you're not-" he balked again, trying to use Seifer's name, then remembered, someone else might hear, preventing him, and tried again. "If you're not you," he said instead, "Then who do they think you are?"
"No one. Unless I tell them my name, or someone else points me out by an assumed name."
"I don't get it." Seifer sighed, took a drink, then tried to explain.
"When someone looks at you, they see someone they don't know. If asked, they wouldn't be able to describe you, though some perceptive people have managed as much as 'about average' sometimes. To them, you're just another stranger. The power we share prevents most people from getting all that curious."
"Most?"
"Like some perceptive people can sometimes give generalizations, and only in one case actually pick out one or two details, some people manage to overcome it. Now say you created an identity, give him a name. For the sake of argument, lets say your friend Riku was that identity. If you told Kairi your name was Riku, she's accept that, and see what you want her to see. To everyone who hadn't yet heard that name though-"
"I'd still be no one," Sora finished, starting to understand. "So what if Kairi told Donald, or someone else?"
"Then they'd see you as Riku too."
"I can't really use Riku though, can I?"
"No. It has to be unique. Of course, you might be able to get away with reusing some names, but yours, and Riku's are rather unique, like mine."
"I just thought of a problem with this."
"Oh?"
"If I told, say, Donald, that I was Riku, then separately told Goofy that I was... I dunno... Roxas. Then they both see me while together, who do I look like?"
"It depends, actually. If there's more people around who know you as Riku, then Goofy would see Riku too."
"And if there's more who knew Roxas, I'd be him."
"You catch on quick. There's always a way out like this, and if all else fails, you'll just become nobody again. You can always tell when that happens."
"How?"
"How did you feel when you first got into Twilight Town?"
"I dunno... kinda cold, a bit odd."
"That's the feeling of being nobody. When you're using an identity, that fades away, and gets replaced with a different feeling. It changes for each one, so you'll always know who you are."
"I wish I could just be me to everyone again."
"Only inside. It's the way of things. You get used to it after a while."
They sat in silence for a while. He didn't like being nobody. He imagined this must have been what Roxas felt like sometimes.
His thoughts were interrupted when Kairi entered the bar with Donald and Goofy. All three wore downcast expressions.
"I don't get it," she said. "That's not like him. Surely he would have woken one of you before just going off like that."
"There was no sign of a struggle, Kairi," Donald replied. "Just his footprints leading up the hill nearby, then nothing. They just go."
"Doesn't your magic tell you anything?"
"It can't tell me anything about this."
"It won't," Seifer remarked, not turning around. "Donald's magic would be tampered with by our power to stop him detecting us if he uses it near where you were taken. Even further away, it'd be hard for him."
"Wouldn't he see the Arcology?"
"Why would he? It's not there now. It isn't anywhere at all unless we need it in a specific place, such as to have someone taken, and even then, it only sticks around as long as we need."
"Neat," he commented, not really feeling it. He privately admitted it was neat, and the seemingly great lengths they went to in order to hide themselves were highly effective, but he was still uncomfortable with having to be a part of it.
Kairi and Goofy took the table next to them, while Donald fetched drinks. She glanced over at him, then frowned briefly.
"You... you're the guy at the park, aren't you?"
"Yeah..."
"You sounded like you know me."
"I've, uh... heard a lot about you."
"Really? Who told you?"
Hoping he wouldn't be forced not to say it, he quickly concocted a reply, and the start of a story to go with it if she pushed him for answers.
"I heard about you from Sora. I know him too." Seifer's expression flickered surprise briefly, then curiosity at this.
"Maybe he mentioned you once? I might recognise your name."
"Uh, no, I don't think he ever would have."
"What's your name?" she pressed. He picked the first one to mind.
"Axel." As he said it, he felt the coldness of being nobody fade, replaced by what he could only describe as a fiery feeling, and for a moment, he was sure the reflection of him in the glasses on the tables looked exactly like Axel had when he'd first met him at Castle Oblivion, complete with the Organisation robe. A quick glance at himself showed that, at least to himself, he hadn't changed in appearance.
"I thought you'd been defeated," Goofy broke in. "You didn't have anything to do with Sora's disappearance, did you?"
"No, of course not. What gave you that idea?"
"Oh, you attacked Sora a lot back at that castle."
"Things changed since then."
Donald came to the table, glanced at him once, then gave a distrustful look. Apparently he still didn't trust Axel. And since he was now Axel to them...
"What's he doing here?" he asked rather harshly.
"Don't be like that, Donald," Kairi chided him. "Axel's just worried about Sora's disappearance too."
"Well how did he hear about it?"
"From me," Seifer said. "I've been in town these past few days, I heard about it happening, and when I told him, he came on down to have a look for himself. My name's Dia."
"Dia? I've heard that name somewhere before."
"I swing through town from time to time. Do you mind if we join in the hunt for Sora?"
"It's not so much a hunt. No one can find him, or find out what happened to him. We've been letting people know about it, and hoping someone will find him."
"If I find out who's responsible, I'll give 'em a shock!" Donald said fiercely, waving his staff around slightly.
"Put that down," Goofy told him. "It might go off."
"It won't 'go off' unless he wants it to," Sora reminded him, forgetting for a moment that they still thought he was Axel. Fortunately, no one noticed the slip up.
Seifer's wrist twitched as he reached for his drink, and he winced almost imperceptibly. It seemed to him like Seifer had just been summoned.
His suspicions were confirmed when he glanced at his wrist, pretending to be checking the time. Sora could see his markings. Like his own, it had his name and the Dark Arcology on. Below it was the marking that denoted him as a fifth rank under his owner, which was a pair of crossed swords over a shield.
"I ought to go," Seifer announced. "I'm due for an appointment. See you round, Axel. Don't forget that work you had to do."
"Yeah, I haven't forgotten. I think I've got most of it."
"Sure?"
"I was until you said that."
"Just making sure. I'll stop by again later if I get the chance. Don't do anything I wouldn't do."
Sora watched him leave, noting that as the window in the door faced him, his reflection showed Axel again.
"What's the work you've got to do, Axel?" Kairi asked him.
"What? Oh, it's nothing," he answered quickly. "Just what I was working on before Dia called me here."
"What was that, then?"
He thought quickly, trying to come up with a cover. He came up with one that was probably hard to believe, but tried it anyway.
"I'm investigating the possibility of another outbreak of heartless. There was a small one a few days ago, someone dealt with it, but we don't know who."
"That's just typical," Donald complained. "An outbreak at exactly the same time that Sora goes missing."
"I'm sure he's alright, wherever he is," he replied reassuringly.
"I just wish we knew what he was doing, what happened to him," Kairi sighed, slumping onto her arms.
"Maybe he was taken," Sora suggested. "Maybe something was waiting for him where those footprints finished that just... took him."
"Like what?"
He balked again at trying to talk about the Dark Arcology. It seemed like another forbidden conversation topic while he was outside. Instead, he settled for being vague about it by saying, "Maybe something that could be there one moment, and gone the next. The sort of thing that sparks off conspiracy theories or something."
"I remember hearing something that might fit that," Goofy told them thoughtfully. "I can't remember quite what..."
Donald finished his drink, looking around at Goofy and Kairi. "We better ask around then, and see what we get. It's better than sitting around doing nothing. Are you with us Axel?"
"Thanks for the offer, but I better get back to work on my own investigation."
"Just like you," Donald said, shaking his head. He seemed to understand though, and didn't press the matter, instead leading the others out.
He watched them go like he had Seifer, once again seeing Axel looking back at him. He picked up his glass and looked at that reflection in it, Axel staring back at him, mirroring his brooding expression.
After a few moments, he too finished his drink and left, concentrating on becoming nobody again. He knew he'd succeeded when the fiery feeling of Axel faded to be replaced with the characteristic coldness. Now he was unremarkable again, he followed his friends. He'd find out what they were planning to do, then report back to Merle. He'd leave out the part about his remark sending them on a trail that could well lead to the same place that had taken him.
Roxas stalked through the halls and corridors, learning what he could through listening in, and watching carefully.
So far it seemed like everyone here had a mark like his, and that everyone seemed to have some kind of power that went with it, that he didn't have. Probably Sora had it.
He'd found that the markings had three purposes, the name served as their identification around here, as it couldn't be faked. The image of the tower was used by one's owner to issue summons, and the emblem beneath denoted who one's owner was, and what rank they held. His seemed to be unique to him. A brief visit to the registry office to examine a catalogue of existing markings found that they existed nowhere else at all. He'd decided not to get them registered, in case it left any awkward questions.
Instead, he had left, and now stalked silently through the halls of floor twenty-two, one of the many administration floors. Unlike the others he'd passed through, this one seemed deserted. The clocks here all reported it to be late at night, so probably everyone had left.
A noise behind him attracted his attention. He turned sharply, the robe swaying around him. He spotted a foot just darting out of sight.
One thought brought Oblivion into his right hand, and Oathkeeper into his left.
Taking another corridor that lead in the same direction as the foot, he listened carefully for anything. He paused before coming out onto the next perpendicular hallway, listening. Someone was approaching, trying to be silent, but he picked up on it, and flattened himself against the wall. The approaching person was behind him to his right.
He swung Oblivion at what he judged to be just above waist height when it sounded like they were close enough, and was rewarded with a dull "Ugh!" and the sounds of someone being knocked to the floor.
They turned out to be a short thin man, minimally dressed in just a pair of shorts, some sandals, and a collar, all in blue. On one wrist was a marking labelled 'Rue' followed by the typical tower. There was no other marking, however, unlike most others he'd seen, but his visit to the registry revealed that this was a first ranker, one of those at the very bottom of the local society. The lack of a mark underneath the tower made it impossible to identify his owner.
Normally, a 'who are you' would be asked here, but since that had already been answered by his markings, instead, in a quiet voice, he asked, "What do you think you're doing?"
"I'm... not permitted to answer that," Rue replied shakily.
"I'm ordering you to tell me."
"Your rank?" Roxas tugged up one sleeve, revealing his own markings, but hiding the name to be safe. "I don't know those markings."
"Good. See these?" He held up the keyblades. Rue nodded. "They're more important. Get the idea?"
"I was sent to follow you," he half squeaked, starting to pull back. "That's all, just follow you and report back on what you did, nothing more."
"Stop it."
"I can't, that is, my orders-"
"Your orders are likely to change to severe pain if you don't stop following me and get out of here before I come after you."
Rue took that in looking from Oathkeeper to Oblivion to him, then back again, then finally scrambled to his feet and fled, almost tripping over himself in his hurried attempt to get away.
Roxas watched him flee. The people here were strange, no doubt about it.
He continued on course, pausing at one room near the red doors of an elevator, listening in on a conversation being held.
"Has he found out yet?"
"Yes. I saw to that myself. He'd have discovered it even without me, but I explained it to make sure."
"Good. What about his reaction so far?"
"He's very reluctant to accept it still. He keeps trying to find ways out of it, and getting very creative, discovering something even we didn't know."
"Really? What was that?"
"That while outside, we can talk about ourselves in third person."
"Interesting. I'll talk to Sand about this."
"Are you sure we can trust Sand?"
"I'm certain. He's not going to risk too much personally though."
"Understandable. I've got more news. Our suspicions were correct."
"Which ones?"
"The ones about what would happen when he took the mark."
"Oh. Those ones. Do we know where he is?"
"No. I also don't know what his intentions are. He might be sympathetic to our cause, or he might choose to be against us."
"That's inconvenient. He'll be trouble if he's against us."
"Don't remind me. It does fit with something I heard earlier though. Sand was ordering Rue to follow a mysterious individual."
"You think it was him?"
"It's possible." There was a pause, sounds of a computer being worked on for a moment, then the speaker continued, "How long to we have?"
"Ten minutes, then we've got to get out of here, or we'll be found."
Roxas didn't stick around. It seemed likely that they'd been talking about him, as Rue was the name of the one following him. If they were on a time limit, there was no sense in sticking around.
He didn't pay attention to what was on the next floor up. The only thing that stuck out was something about a Powerball game. He had no idea what that was, but it was better than doing nothing.
He didn't have to go far to find it. It looked a lot like a game of soccer - the pitch looked identical - but the game was far from what he was expecting.
It was a ten a side game, but instead of one ball, there were four identical balls, and no one came into contact with them. Most of the time they were in the air anyway.
It seemed to him that this power everyone seemed to have here was being used, influencing the balls with that instead. When two of the players both focused on one ball, it was hurled high into the air.
There were four referees, one at each corner of the pitch. He didn't quite understand why they were needed until he asked, and was told that they prevented any outside influence from manipulating the game.
Roxas sat down to watch. It looked like the game had only just started, and it was more interesting than just wandering around trying to find Sora, or find out what happened to him.
