The sloshing sound of water being tossed back and forth was strangely comforting. Isa would have slept through it easily if it hadn't been for the water that seemed to be seeping out of its container and onto the floor where he had fallen asleep.

His head ached. The pain hammered right behind his eyes and he shied away from the light by putting his hands over his face as he sat up. A small pool of water had accumulated around him. Isa looked down onto the floor of glazed tile and wondered where he was if he wasn't in the Forest of Glue.

The sloshing sound caught his attention and he found himself staring into a round window where he could see the insides of the machine that tossed the water around and created bubbles. Isa moved in closer to see if he could lure the bubbles out, but they were squashed against the window, unable to come out.

Isa stood up with a frown. Something was wrong.

He inspected the yellow machine and tried the handle to open the window, but it wouldn't budge. The slot on top of the machine wasn't much help either. He thought that it was a way into the machine, but there were only lumps of white powder.

Isa stood back to give the machine a proper look, but no matter how much he looked, there didn't seem to be a way to get the bubbles out. After a moment of thinking, he figured that maybe he could tilt it. Isa walked further into the room for a better push off, but before he had the chance to do anything, a door opened.

Isa's mouth dropped open slightly at the sight that the door revealed. His heart skipped a beat and he took a step back at the surprise.

Lea was looking back at him with eyes wide, as if this was the last place he had expected to see Isa. He looked different. Too different. His tears were gone. His hair was solid and not flickering flames. The look in his eyes was of suspicion, fear and uncertainty.

Lea tensed up.

"What the hell are you doing here?"

Isa stuttered briefly. "I...was hoping you could tell me?"

Lea stayed by the door, holding a big basket full of clothes. He scoffed at Isa and the smile Isa thought was coming was Lea gritting his teeth while he gripped the doorknob tightly in his hand.

"Haven't you done enough damage already? She's broken enough as it is. Let her get well in peace." Lea's voice was low, almost a growl as he glanced to the side of the room where Isa couldn't see anything. Lea glared back at Isa. "I know you don't give a flying fuck about anyone but yourself, and I know you think your power is going to scare me off, but if you show up here again, I'll bash your face in. That's not a threat, that's a promise."

Isa frowned again, uncertain if that had been a joke or if he had truly done something to upset Lea. He tried to smile, but the furious glare Lea shot stopped him.

"I...I was trying to, um, free the bubbles..." Isa gulped and decided to look down on the floor to work up the courage to face Lea again. He pointed at the machine that had probably smashed hundreds of bubbles already. "They're stuck in that machine, and I thought that if I tilted it...they might not have to be stuck anymore...Don't, look at me like that."

"Are you off your meds?" There was misplaced amusement in the incredulous look in Lea's eyes.

Isa knew that look far too well to have anything but spite for it. That's how the men in the white coats looked at him, as if his head was dropping loose screws and short circuiting for everyone to see. Lea joked about many things, but he had never made fun of Isa's supposed condition.

"It doesn't matter," Lea said before Isa thought of a comeback. "You tell Vexen to give you your meds on time and to put you on a leash to keep you far away from me."

"Why would you say something like that?"

This had stopped being funny a long time ago. Lea's words were nothing but hurtful and vicious. All of Lea's attitude against him was Isa's worst fears coming true, and there was only one thing Isa could think of that could make Lea change so much in so little time.

He must have found out about the lies.

Lea opened the door behind him and held it open for Isa with an overly polite gesture toward it. "It's time for you to leave. This better be the last time I see you here. I sure as hell can't be held responsible if there's a second."

"Lea..." Isa began and took a step closer, but was stopped again by Lea's furious glare at him.

"It's Axel. Thanks to you, it's Axel. Leave. Last warning."

Isa stepped through the doorway with heavy steps. A weight settled on his chest, and despite the small voice at the back of his head that told him to just give up already, Isa turned around with an apology on his tongue, but the door was slammed shut in his face.

There was no light slipping into the dark hallway.

Isa could barely see anything at all when he slowly backed away from the door. He watched the wall grow into it until the door became indistinguishable from the dark wallpaper.

The sloshing sound of water kept sounding in Isa's head, and he turned to where he thought it came from.

"Always follow the bubbles," he mumbled softly to himself.

It was cold. Isa shivered and ran his arms around himself, absentmindedly rubbing his thumb against his arm to soothe the hard beating in his chest. The floor was made of wood, and yet, whenever he dug his feet into the floor, it bended like wet sand and released water.

He hoped that the sloshing sound was a leaking machine where the bubbles had managed to get out and not another gateway for screaming faces in masses of water.

The door he stopped by was simple and yet luxurious. Isa only had to brush his fingers against the golden doorknob for the lights in the corridor to light up and reveal a red carpet underneath his feet, elegant walls and the sound of an elevator arriving at his floor.

Isa stepped inside. The door closed behind him gently and there was a soft click in the lock that settled the heavy silence.

He could hear the machine from further in the spacious apartment, but he stood planted by the door when he saw the interior. The furniture was black, with shiny surfaces and empty spaces. The small lounge suit was in dark leather. Not even the dim light from outside could save the room from the gloomy emptiness that must have been mistaken for elegance.

Isa walked further in slowly, glancing at the empty bookshelves. He walked past the kitchen island meant to separate the living room from the kitchen, sliding his fingers across the shiny surface and hoping to catch a small speck of dust. At least the floor wasn't wet.

He stood in a small corridor, facing the door to where the sloshing sound came from, but the room to his right seemed more enticing right now. Walking through doors was tiring, and maybe, if he went to sleep, he'd find his way back to the Forest of Glue and out of this strange nightmare.

"Saïx!" The door outside slammed shut behind that bark. "Saïx! Come here at once! Do you understand what you've done?!"

Isa stood frozen right by the door to the bedroom in hope that the tactic of standing still was as effective on this barking stranger as it was on dragons. The stranger mumbled under his breath, annoyed at being ignored. He hurried toward the small corridor where Isa stood, as if he knew that if Isa was anywhere, he'd be either by the sloshing machine or the bedroom.

"At least have the courtesy to answer me when I'm talking to you!" The man was older than Isa, much older. His hair was long and blond. His cheekbones were high and defined. Isa stared at him, eyes wide at the face of the man distorted with annoyance.

"You promised that you wouldn't go to Axel anymore. It's bad for your recuperation. I told you that, didn't I? Xemnas needs you to be well for work, and you seem to be doing everything in your power to counteract everything that might help you."

"...who, are you?" Isa asked finally when the man's fixated glare became too much.

"Are you serious?" The man didn't seem to be amused. He didn't even seem annoyed anymore. He reached for a penlight in his pocket and pointed it at Isa's eyes. He turned to the door to his side and pushed it open lightly only to barely hold back a swear when he saw the machine from where the sloshing sound came.

"This is exactly what I mean!" the man continued whining as he walked to the machine to turn it off. "Are we seriously doing this again? Why have you put the blankets in the washing machine, Saïx? Didn't we agree that you wouldn't do that anymore? There's no need to wash the blankets. They are clean."

"I'm Isa...sir." Isa gulped when the man turned his attention to him again.

"I beg your pardon?"

"I'm...Isa. Sir."

"Axel hit you, didn't he? Did you hit your head? See, this is why you shouldn't go there. That bastard has undone a year's worth of progress. Come here." The man waved for Isa to follow him back to the living room and take a seat on one of the black leather armchairs. "I'm Doctor Vexen," he began and rested his hand on his chest for emphasis. "Xemnas, your superior, assigned you to me when you started having problems. Do you remember what those problems were?"

Isa shook his head slowly.

"Great. We'll just have to start over. Your name is Saïx. You are a board member at Oblivion. This is the third time we've had to start over and there won't be a fourth."

"Why is Lea angry at me?" Isa asked.

"No, not Lea. He's Axel. It doesn't matter why, all you need to know right now is that you can't see him. You aren't allowed to have any contact with him. There could be severe repercussions, and you can't afford that right now."

"What did I do?"

"Simply put, you took his life away."

~o~

Sleeping didn't seem to solve anything. It only made his headache worse. The silence was deafening, almost as if his hearing caved into itself and made his thoughts sound louder than they should. Isa lay in the large bed with white sheets and stared up at the white ceiling where there wasn't even a crack to entertain himself with.

Doctor Vexen was a liar. Isa sat up slowly and put his face against the palms of his hands as he mumbled "Doctor Vexen is a liar" again and again to have something break the insufferable silence. In all the worlds he had seen and been to, this had been the first one to feel as draining as it was. Isa was sure that he had been here for days, but the days faded into each other in a way that made it difficult to tell how many days had passed. Maybe it had only been an afternoon.

Isa pulled his white covers close to his chest, clenching his fingers around the soft fabric as he sunk into them. They didn't have a scent. They couldn't tell if they had been used longer than a week or if they had just been washed. How long had it been since he last saw Lea? When was the last time he could feel the scent of anything?

Isa got out of bed, carrying the covers with him as he hurried into the bathroom where the washing machine was. He pushed the covers in and closed the small round door. He searched for the detergent frantically. He couldn't remember why the detergent was important. He had never used one of these before, had he? Had the covers smelled of anything before? Did he know that from somewhere?

His hands were trembling by the time he found the fabric softener and poured it into the right slot. His fingers slid down to the right buttons as if he had done this a hundred times before. The round window was locked with a click and the water began to trickle into the machine, breaking the silence that would drive Isa mad if he stayed any longer in it.

As the bubbles formed inside the machine, Isa slid down next to it, waiting for his breathing to even out. He had to close his eyes to not have to see the white tile everywhere in this room. Isa hadn't taken any jelly beans in a long time, and yet, this world was monochrome. Stuck in a color shift that Isa wasn't fond of.

Once he decided to look again, he was sitting by a coffee table by the entrance. His hands were on a phone, one hand on the receiver, and the other seemingly ready to dial a familiar number. The receiver was cold against his ear. The dull ringtone made the palm of his hands sweaty as he waited for someone on the other end to pick up.

"Hello?"

"Lea? Lea, where are you? I don't know where I am, and I don't know where to find you. They're telling me I can't see you, and − I want to leave. Please, Lea, where are you?" Isa was barely holding back a sob by biting at his thumb and waiting to hear Lea's voice.

"Sir, do you want me to contact Doctor Vexen? He left us an emergency number."

"...no. Don't contact Doctor Vexen..." Isa wiped away his tears angrily. "Do you have Lea − I mean, Axel's number?"

"I'm sorry, sir, but I've been given strict orders not to let you contact him."

"How long have I been here?"

"...as long as I can remember, sir. Look, I'll just−"

"Has Axel ever come by to visit?" Isa interrupted. He didn't like the name they had given Lea. It felt foreign and not at all fitting.

"He used to, but sir, that was a long time ago."

"Did I do anything in particular to have him visit?"

"Sir, please, you'll get me turned into a Dusk. Let me just call Doctor Vexen for you, and he'll sort everything out."

Isa hung up. There had to be something in here that had been Lea's. There had to be something that he could hold onto from before his life turned into a hazy dream and was replaced with this wretched emptiness that made him feel numb. Isa hurried to rummage through the drawers and seemingly empty bookshelves.

Who lived like this? Who filled an apartment with furniture and no memories? There was nothing to stand as proof that there had been a life of achievements and failures before becoming a wreck who couldn't even remember how long he'd been here.

By the end of it, Isa stood in a room with empty drawers pulled out on the floor and open cabinet doors that he couldn't bring himself to close. There was nothing in here. Nothing to tell him of who he was or why he was here. Isa clenched his fists and pushed his nails as far into his palms as he could. He was breathing hard. What if he was just as empty as his apartment? How could he know if he was? His skin felt as thick as an armor, as a barrier between himself and the rest of the world, and at that moment he just wanted to tear it off before he was suffocated by the lack of everything.

Isa pulled the door open and stepped through it. As soon as he was through the doorway, he walked out of the building and onto a paved road right by a busy street of dark smudges that passed by rapidly. The buildings around him were a blur with spots of lights for windows. The wind was blowing cold, and Isa had to smile through his desperation at feeling his skin break out in goosebumps.

He ran down the street. He didn't know where he was going or how long he could keep running. He just knew that he never wanted to come back here.

Isa slowed down when droplets of water started to fall from the sky. He held his hand out to see the drops splash against his hand. Maybe if he could find a bubble he could fly back to where he came from. Isa looked around. There were wet smudges of paint everywhere, moving up and down the road to reach unknown locations.

"Excuse me, sir?" Isa said as he approached one smudge of paint, but was ignored. He tried countless times, but no one would stop to hear his question.

Then he saw Bunny.

In the middle of the crowd of smudges stood Bunny. He stared right at Isa and wiggled his nose when Isa stared right back. Isa only had to blink once to suddenly find himself right in front of Bunny. Bunny's fur was shiny, and the droplets of water ran off him with ease once it started raining.

Isa couldn't bring himself to lift his gaze from the ground to face Bunny properly. He cleared his throat nervously and brought an arm around himself.

"What am I doing here?" he asked.

"This is the world in which you belong, Isa," Bunny said easily.

"It's not. I've never been here before. I have no memory of it. My world is back with Lea. We were going to solve the problems at the Heart Station. The Guardians are dying, and I don't have time for your stupid punishment games!" Isa's voice grew louder and the soothing motion of his thumb against his arm turned into a firm grip.

"You were going to interfere with Fate, Isa. The misplaced one has a destiny to fulfill, and you wanted to get in the way."

"You're not rhyming..."

"This is a world of grey, haven't you noticed? It's a world free of art."

"The smudges have colors."

"The other world is still bleeding into this one. But it won't for long. You are a bump in the road for the misplaced one, Isa, and if you don't stay away, he'll be the end of the road for you. Fate won't have it any other way."

"Doesn't Lea have a say? Maybe he doesn't like what Fate has in store for him. Maybe he wants to stay with me. Did you ever think of that? Or are you too busy pitying yourself for being left behind by Mother Moon?" Isa looked up at Bunny. The dull pain from his firm grip on his arm distracted him enough from the guilt to dare to face Bunny.

"There was never a moon to call yours, Isa. You are the world. A lonely world in a vast empty space. You had to create something to illuminate your dark night sky. And there just isn't enough light in you to create stars."

"Take me back to Lea!"

"Will you tell him the truth? Will you tell him that the red string is what he needs to follow to find what he seeks? Will you help him follow it? Can you tell Lea that you've wished to distort the meaning of the red string to have him imprisoned in your grid for nothing but your own gain?"

"I...I don't know." Isa shivered in the rain. "I just need some time, okay? I'll tell Lea the truth, but I just need some time."

"Time for what?"

"Just time! I won't try to cut or alter the string, but you have to back off. And don't call Lea misplaced, because he's not. He's not misplaced and I'm not a bump in the road. Our ways crossed, and if Fate had been as almighty as you think she is, she wouldn't have let that happen."

"She didn't. You took him even when you were told to stay away. She tried to keep an eye on you, but you meddled."

Bunny vanished into thin air. The place where he had been standing was taken by the blur of smudges passing by in the pouring rain. Isa ran his arms tighter around himself and stood waiting for a door to creak open at the brink of his mind, and as the water started to accumulate around his feet, he heard the Whale's majestic howl from above.

He was going home.