Chapter 4

Past the hole, Vanitas ended up in the Tram District of the town. The ambience of the forest made it clear how far removed the place was when the tram passed, its wheels squeaking and clanging against the tracks. As the tram passed him, it revealed more blocks stacked in piles all over the town center. They were on the streets, the rooftops, and nooks and crannies. It wasn't the blocks that worried him. It was how empty the place seemed. Where was everyone?

"Orion, are you able to scan the area for other people?" he asked, wandering down the streets and avoiding the blocks. He searched the area for any sign he wasn't alone, but from what he could tell no one was around. He was sure it had to do with the fact this was a virtual world. It was possible the journal, when digitized, didn't place anyone but those mentioned in the entries inside the worlds. It would have explained why none of the townspeople were in the area.

The makeshift fairy climbed out of his hood, settled on his shoulder next to his ear, and said, "I am in the process of doing so. At forty percent I can sufficiently say there are no prominent figures in the area."

"Great."

"I am in the opinion it is not as 'great' as you think."

"Do you not know what sarcasm is?" he asked, exasperated.

"Sarcasm is the use of irony to mock-"

"Never mind." Leave it to a computer program to be cute with him and not know he was doing it. He should remind Arty to program sarcasm into Orion.

To double check Orion's claim, Vanitas wandered about the town. During his last visit, he hadn't taken the time to appreciate how homely or domestic the town was. Each building was built like they were boxes themselves in a way they were stacked and piled in a set style. The lower halves were often made of brick to match the cobblestone style the town had going for it, then the upper halves were fashioned and painted in tan that reflected the ever present sunset perfectly, presenting an array of warm colors. The tram common itself was wide and open spaced to allow the tracks to have more room to move as well. Stores were dotted here and there, selling their wares for all to buy. He spotted a candy store as well as an accessory shop. They were all devoid of life.

Like that isn't creepy, he thought, catching a shiver down his spine. The town was so lively before. In comparison this was a literal ghost town. It was discerning.

"What's the percentage now?" asked Vanitas as he made his way towards an alleyway. He peered around the corner into an empty little alcove.

"The search has been completed. Results: four NPCs have been located," Orion answered.

"Where's the nearest one?"

"Fifty feet away and oncoming."

That was the only warning he received. Suddenly, he sensed something coming at him from behind. He had a split second to step aside, and a flying wheel of fire grazed past. It was close enough for him to feel the heat yearning to burn him down to ash. The flaming wheel hit a wall, the flames dying out once it stopped. Its pointed tips and red metal curves were a sight he never thought he'd see again.

"You know that almost hit me, right?" Vanitas asked, glowering at his would-be assassin.

"That was the whole point." It was a familiar man whose red hair was the color of flames burning at their brightest. Axel's cheeky smirk was lopsided as he swung his remaining chakram like a fidgeting man waiting to jump his next victim. "I've got some questions for you, Mr. Imposter. You can be good or I'll do this the hard way."

"Why does it have to be the hard way?" he remembered. He slid his foot back to get ready to fight or run. The few seconds as he decided was to remember the last time he saw the red haired, black coated member of Organization XIII. Axel's last blaze of glory, telling them they reminded him of Roxas, his body flaking away into oblivion like a decaying corpse-they were memories he was still trying to deal with.

Axel grinned. "Who says the hard way has be to easy? Maybe I find it fun."

"Looks like you and I find 'fun' differently."

"Hey, got to get'em where you can." Axel surged forward. In an instant, he swept his arm to let his remaining chakram fly. It curved in the air, forcing Vanitas to move along the same way. It harmlessly sailed by to hit the wall behind him. As he moved along, Axel suddenly ran up to him almost like he had slid across the ground instead. The chakram he had remaining was ready to pierce his side, flames licking far too close for comfort. Vanitas managed to bring up his Keyblade to guard against it, the hand guard stopping one of the points from nicking his stomach. He pushed against Axel with considerable effort. It was useless as that gave Axel the chance to retrieve his other chakram and come after him.

For several minutes, Vanitas was forced on the defensive. Axel went in for a head on assault as he whipped his chakram around. At every opportunity he had, he threw his weapons to force Vanitas in one direction where he waited to strike. It didn't help that Vanitas was constrained to only three swings and slows ones at that. All he could do was guard, run away, and try to attack. To make him feel worse his health bar slowly whittled down from the few times Axel hit him.

It was the most embarrassing fight Vanitas had ever been in.

He was given some mercy from this hell when Axel stayed in place while Vanitas ran off to a safe distance.

"Huh. Not bad. I didn't expect for you to last this long," Axel panted, lowering his chakram to hang lazily at his sides. The grip he had on them told a different story."For an imposter, that is."

"What're you talking about? I'm not an imposter," Vanitas retorted.

"Sure you are. You're trying to disguise yourself as someone else I know you're not. I'm pretty sure Sora doesn't look like you do."

Vanitas stared. He was hit by a rush of deja vu. Axel had thought he looked like Roxas when they first met. It would seem he was continuing the trend in a new way.

"You think I'm trying to be Sora," he sighed, shoulders drooping. "Just because I look like him doesn't mean I'm him. The name's Vanitas."

"Vanitas," Axel mused, slowly tasting the name. "Not a name I'd pick for my kid. So, Vanitas, if you're not Sora, why do you have a Keyblade? Last I heard, not many people can wield it."

"Then, you haven't met many Keyblade wielders. It's not like we're in hot supply right now."

"I'll say." Axel studied him a bit more and closely scrutinized him. Vanitas resisted flipping him off or making a dirty joke. Finally, the Nobody nodded. "Alright, I guess I'll believe you're not Sora if-" he added before Vanitas dismissed his Keyblade, "you help me with a little problem I'm having."

"Why should I help you?"

"You wasted my time fighting you. That's time I could've been using to find a buddy of mine." Axel allowed his chakrams to fade into wisps of fire. He began to relax, putting a hand on his hip as he scratched the back of his head. "See, before I ran into you and way before these weird blocks showed up, me and a friend were minding our own business. Then, I suddenly blacked out, and when I woke up my friend was gone and these blocks popped up. I don't know about you, but all that on top of your appearance can't be a coincidence."

"It's a weird coincidence, but I swear I have nothing to do with your friend disappearing, the black out, or the blocks. In fact I'm trying to get rid of that last one."

"Sure you are," said Axel in a way he didn't believe a word he said. "I could care less about the blocks. I'm more concerned about finding my friend, and you're gonna help me."

"Why would I do that?"

"Guessing by your fighting, you're still wet behind the ears. You can either help me or-" Axel summoned his chakrams once again, "I won't hold back this time. I'll be happy to leave you a charred mess if you'd like."

It's official. I hate being level one. He had struggled against Axel while he was holding back. Who knew how strong the Nobody truly was in here? It looked like he had no choice.

"Fine," he reluctantly agreed. A tiny fist tugged on the back of his head. He ignored it. "What do you want me to do?"

Axel gave a sickly sweet smile.

"I knew you'd see it my way. The first thing I want you to do is to investigate why these weird blocks are here."

"I thought you said you didn't care about these blocks?" Vanitas asked in disbelief.

"Now I do. Besides, these blocks and whoever's behind them might be responsible for why my pal's missing. If this is some elaborate prank, feel free to take care of them."

"Alright. What will you be doing?"

"I'll be checking on the other side of town. You take a look around here. I already explored here, but there's a chance I missed something."

Vanitas scowled and nodded. He didn't like being around like this. Yet, what else could he do? He was a lower level compared to Axel.

"What's your friend look like?"

He shrugged. "He's dressed like me, short, and acts like kind of a space case. You'll know him what you see him."

That makes no sense. Why did Nobodies keep bothering him like this beyond the grave? How annoying. Looks like I'll have to run with it.

Nobodies, or the ones he knew, were notorious in how vague they liked to be. All he had to do was accept it to move on with his life.

"Now that you've got what you need, let's get started." Axel pointed down at his feet. "Let's meet back here if you have anything to report. Happy hunting."

Vanitas agreed half-heartedly. He really didn't want to be doing this. He watched Axel walk off towards the Station Plaza. He was probably going to catch a train to the other side of town.

"Why are you agreeing to a search?" Orion asked, leaning up from his hood to get closer to his ear. "I thought time was of the essence to find Sora?"

"It is, but what choice do we have?" he answered. They were already off course when it came to this issue. They were supposed to end up in Destiny Islands, not Twilight Town. Neither of them knew what was going on. "Our only lead is to explore the town to figure a way out of here. It just so happens Axel's objectives line up with our's."

"Are you certain? You are not obligated to do as he says."

"I know." He still wanted to do it. Axel (in real life) had saved their lives, sacrificing his so-called life to help them. Being the guy that he was, he preferred to repay people who had helped him. It was the only honorable thing about him if he had to pick a good trait. Axel had saved him at the cost of his 'life', so he thought repaying the debt to his virtual counterpart was the only way to do it he would help him out. "Let's just do it. If we happen to find this missing person, we'll tell Axel. Alright?"

Orion stayed silent, which Vanitas appreciated. It was nice that for an adviser Orion wouldn't fight him on his decisions. It was refreshing compared to Caelum nagging him about his bad decisions. With that matter settled Vanitas went off to complete his objective.

The town, although devoid of most life, was teeming with bugs that took the form of Heartless. Vanitas wasn't entirely sure why the bugs looked like the dark creatures that had ruined his life once already. He theorized that because the whole journal was about Sora fighting Heartless, the bugs took the form as a way to get around. So, in that way, he found it familiar to fight these creatures after weeks of continuously slaying them.

That didn't make it any easier for him.

From the tram common square to the uphill road to the clock tower station, groups of the little devils appeared to try and erase him. Each time Vanitas fought to defend himself, his copy Keyblade caught in their code to rip them to numbered shreds. It was no easy task as they were stronger than him and had more HP. He took more than a few critical hits that decimated his own health bar by half with each hit. He tried to retaliate but was astonished to find he could barely do any damage.

Because of that, the battles lasted longer considering he could only hit a total of three times. Combined with the limited space the blocks provided, and he was in for a world of hurt.

"This sucks!" Vanitas snarled as he slashed the last Heartless out of existence. He had been fighting for ten minutes just through two groups of five Heartless. In that short time he had gained a total of two levels to give him a grand total of three levels. "There has to be a faster way to level up than this. I'm barely hurting them at all!"

"Unfortunately, there isn't," Orion said in his ear. "I do not understand how the bugs have become stronger."

"What do you mean they've become stronger?" he asked, pausing his rage.

"You are able to see the bugs' health levels, yes?" Vanitas nodded. "You are able to see them in part because my code is interlaced with your's. I am able to scan the bugs' coding before transmitting the information to you in a simplified manner you would understand. In their data I can see durability, strength, and what elements they wield.

"That's handy."

"It is. However, when we entered this world I noticed an increase in the bugs' stats. Compared to how they were when Sora faced them in the Station of the Heart, these bugs have higher numbers."

"Meaning that they're harder to kill," Vanitas realized. "How can that be? You said those numbers changed in here."

"I do not know, exactly, what caused this," Orion explained. Being so close to his ear, he was able to make out his frustration. "It seems when you entered the system the change was already in place. Something must have occurred between the time Lady Arty vanished and your entrance. It may have been the cause for this anomaly in both the town and the Heartless."

"That doesn't sound good." This was becoming more of a mess than he first anticipated. There was more at work here than mysteriously blank journals. He approached the stairs near a billboard that led into a side alley. "We'll need to pick up the pace. I don't know if Arty or the others know about this yet."

For all of Arty's smarts, he doubted she would notice this issue before she even noticed she was trapped inside a computer.

The side alley, like the hill street, was crowded with blocks. Off beside the stairs was a gate for the trams to enter and leave. It was blocked by grey boxes that he learned were nearly indestructible. The rest of the boxes were red and had a few yellow and silver ones. The latter two were full of items and health balls. When he found that out he took care to always go after them and destroy them. After Orion's observation, he definitely needed them.

He destroyed a pile of boxes in front of another gate around the corner when he heard it.

"Hey! Is someone there?" called someone behind the silver chained gate. Beyond it was a small nook hidden behind a ratty curtain. It was brushed aside and a young boy ran out. "Thank goodness! We thought we were trapped in here for good."

"Hayner?" Vanitas blurted out. He didn't expect to see the blond, camouflaged boy he met in the real Twilight Town to be here. He was also joined by Olette and Pence. "Olette? Pence?"

He quickly found he shouldn't have said their names as they all appeared confused.

"Do we know you?" asked Olette.

"Oh, no. I just...saw you around town," he lied rather awkwardly. "I'm new in town. Anyway, why did you think you were trapped in there?"

"We can't get out," said Pence even as Hayner began to scrutinize. "We were stuck here because of the blocks in the way. We've been calling for help for forever."

"An hour," Olette corrected, sighing at their dramatics. "Thanks for getting those blocks out of the way."

"Sure," said Vanitas. He didn't know that they were there. Still, he accepted the gratefulness. He didn't know what else to say. Things became awkward as they stood staring expectantly.

"Aren't you going to open the gate?" Hayner tapped the chain impatiently. "We still can't get out. The gate's locked."

"No, it's not."

"What are you talking about? Of course it is! We still can't get out."

"No. That's because there isn't a lock..." Vanitas trailed off. The longer he stared at the gate, the more he realized there was no lock. In fact, there wasn't an opening at all. It was like the builders who put the fence there in the first place forgot to add a gate to enter the back alley. "I'm confused. Orion, what's going?"

"This would be one of the glitches I mentioned before," Orion replied, trying to stay out of sight. "I may be able to locate it, but you will need to continue going through the town. I will not find it until I am in the vicinity."

"Damn it." So this was how the other glitches manifested-by messing with everyday objects to make them so much harder to work with.

"Who is he talking to?" Hayner whispered to Pence.

The shorter boy shrugged.

"No clue."

"You three just hang tight," Vanitas said, ignoring their whispers for the moment. "I'll find a way to get you three out of there."

"You're just going to leave us here?"

Vanitas didn't reply, walking down the alleyway blocked by more boxes. He felt a sliver of guilt for leaving them there but it was small. What else could he tell them in this situation? They were, at their core, computer programs. They wouldn't understand that glitches were the main cause of all the strange occurrences in town. He barely understood it himself.

All he could do was walk down the slope at the other end of the alley. It curved back down to the center of town where he found an open lot. It was an open space mostly dominated by the blocks. Wooden benches surrounded the space as if it were for spectating a concert or an event.

The second his foot entered the threshold Vanitas heard a beeping noise behind him.

"It appears the glitch is in this area." Orion slipped out of his hood. He shimmered a bright light that rhythmically blinked at a steady beat. "I believe from here I can lead you towards the glitch."

"What are you waiting for? Go on, then!"

Orion did as he was told. He flew off towards the square, swerving between the towering boxes. Vanitas dispatched them as he ran to catch up, clearing up more space for him to move around. Once the blocks were gone, the little fairy was visible as he hovered next to a garage door.

"This is it?" he asked, examining the seemingly harmless door.

"Yes. To reveal the glitch, point your weapon towards where it is." He bobbed up at down in a large gesture at it.

Vanitas was unsure of how his Keyblade could reveal the glitch or what would even happen. After a moment's hesitation, he tapped the Keyblade's tip against the garage door. There was a shattering sound, the wall breaking apart to reveal an opening which softly glowed a neon blue. Numbers floated all around inside.

"This is the glitch, huh? I guess this proves I'm in a computer system," he voiced aloud. Within the virtual reality it all felt so real. It was the small things like this jagged crack in the wall that grounded him.

"No, this is simply the entrance within the code. The glitch itself lies within and you must defeat it to right the system. To get inside point your weapon at the entrance and you shall be transported inside."

"Is that so?" Vanitas grinned. "Alright. Let's do this."

He raised his Keyblade to point at the hole like Orion said. A slight numb settled over his form like when he and Arty were transported inside Ansem's computer. Just like that time his vision faded and all went dark. But in an instant, he was able to see again. He also gained movement in his limbs.

As expected, Vanitas was no longer in the sandlot. In fact, he wasn't sure where he was.

He was in some sort of large, dark room. It was much like the Space Paranoids where it had a glowing undertone to it. There were several raised platforms, blocks of varying colors strewn about. Vanitas studied the room and noticed a number in his upper vision. It flashed the number two prominently.

"Orion, I'm seeing a number here."

"That would indicate the number of bugs hiding in this sector," Orion answered, nestled in his hood again. "They are hiding in this room somewhere. I believe if you defeat them, then the glitch will vanish.

"You're not going to tell me where they are exactly, are you."

"That would be your job. Oh, and another thing I should mention. You should add some commands to your arsenal."

"Add what?"

"Commands. Swipe your hand downward and two menus should pop up."

Wary, Vanitas did as he was told. When he did a blue, transparent box appeared with several options in front of him. From top to bottom, it read 'stat board,' 'command gears,' 'weapon gear,' and 'customize.' They were all things he would find in a regular RPG.

"Now, go to the second option," Orion continued his makeshift tutorial. Vanitas tapped it, and the box changed to an empty four slot menu with a second menu popping up beside it. This one contained a list of...special attacks? "If you see a list of attacks, that would be your special attacks. While you have a basic three hit combination, these special attacks allow you to execute a variety of techniques. This includes using magic among other things like throwing your Keyblade like a boomerang."

"Wait, are you telling me I have to use these slots to use some attacks and magic? I'm being limited to only four?"

"Yes, is that an issue?"

"No, but it's something I'll need to get used to," Vanitas sighed, clamping down his irritation. Of course in the beginning he was being restricted. Like all RPGs, he had to work his way up. And, from the looks of the sparse list as he eyed it, he didn't know very many attacks. He only had something called Sliding Dash and Quick Blitz for physical attacks and no magic. Maybe later he would get more. It was amazing how accurate Arty made this to be like a role playing game. This would have been fun if it weren't being used like this for the first time.

Frowning, he inserted the two attacks along with a Potion slow for healing. With no Cure spell he had to work with what he had.

Adapt was the name of the game he was playing.

Don't ask. Just keep going.

Exiting the menus, he got to searching the room.

The first thing Vanitas did was investigate the odd blocks in varying designs. The most common were black boxes with deep red lines stamped on them in jagged ways. They resembled computer chips in that manner. He knew they were breakable back when he first appeared in that world, so he hit them in one strike. He thought they were pretty annoying.

As always, there were several grey boxes he couldn't destroy. This was a good thing because he could use the boxes to reach the higher platforms. He jumped up them to a higher level where, against a wall, he saw a blue square opening. He began to make his way to it. Then, Heartless popped up. They were the regular shadows and only four of them.

Vanitas took this chance to try out the commands that he had equipped. When one of the shadows drew close he slashed one, then activated the command. His body knew what to do. In its pre-programmed state it took control for a second to leap up and swung his Keyblade down in an arc over his head. That hard hit smashed into the Heartless' head, dropping its HP down by a third. With two more attacks left he slashed and stabbed to destroy it. Then, he focused on the other three. He tried to use the Quick Blitz again except he ended up automatically using Strike Raid. He threw the Keyblade at it. The blade spun it slice through the Heartless he was aiming for and the one behind it. Both took considerable damage.

Baffled, Vanitas used regular attacks to defeat them.

"Orion, can you tell me why I used a Strike Raid when I wanted to use a Quick Blitz?" he asked after he finished.

"That is because you tried to use an attack while it was cooling down," Orion explained slowly as if he was stupid to have asked. "When you use a command it cannot be used again until it was cooled down. If you try to use a command in Cool down mode, you will end up using the next available command in your list."

Vanitas supposed that made sense if he were playing a real video game. It was to make the player adapt and use a variety of spells or techniques instead of full out spamming one (even though they could try anyway). In this situation he found they made little sense. Damn it! Why did Arty have to use a video game format for her VR programs?

"Can I at least use items without waiting for a cool down?" he asked, silently cursing his friend.

"Yes, you can. So if you find yourself struggling, you can keep using Potions to stay alive."

"That's good." He was thankful for that at least. Otherwise, he was in his own personal hell in digital form.

Satisfied he had items to rely on, he touched the blue square and was prepared to get on his knees to crawl through. His hand only skimmed it when he felt a minor electrical shock course through his body. He lost focus on the world. Then, when it died Vanitas regained himself to find they had been transported to a new room.

This room was nearly identical to the previous one. Vanitas would have thought he was in the same room except one, the platforms were on a lower level, two, the block pattern was laid differently, and three, the room was now an alarming red. There were shades of black around so his eyesight wasn't completely burned. The drastic change obviously meant there was something here.

Vanitas approached the edge of his platform and stopped. There was an open space in the center of the room as if it were a fighting pit. Boxes were dotted along the hard corners. Apprehension filled him. There wasn't anything around him, but he had the feeling that if he stepped down into the pit there were Heartless waiting for him.

Before he thought about doing that, he opened his command menu to replace his Quick Blitz with another Potion slot. He had enough from Heartless dropping them (if only they did that in real life), so it was always good to have them on hand. He closed his menus, took a deep breath, then jumped down into the pit.

True enough, the second he touched down more Heartless appeared. There were three soldier types-shadows that wore armored helmets and boots- but there was something wrong with one of them. Two of them looked completely normal while the third phased in and out of reality. There were coded numbers flashing on its body as it twitched.

"That's the bug!" Orion exclaimed. His voice prompted them to attack.

The three soldiers leapt at them, armored tipped claws ready to shred through him. Suddenly, he found the bug was closer than he expected. He was too slow to guard against it. The claws raked across his arms and Vanitas flinched. God, that actually hurt! It reflected on the significant drop to his health. It dropped further into the red zone as a second soldier managed to land a hit.

Get away! Get away! His instincts screamed, and he obeyed.

Vanitas backed away and tumbled sideways to put distance he needed. Then, he activated his Potion command to bring his health back up. It was in time, because he found the bug had caught up with him. He quickly guarded and was assaulted by claws.

What the hell was wrong with this bug? he wondered. He was forced to defend and defeat the Heartless when he had the chance. It was easy to hit the normal Soldiers, chipping away at their health until one finally was defeated. The weird one was moving too fast to land a good hit on it. It was so frustrating. This didn't help at all with him trying to avoid losing his health. It made him more reckless as he threw caution to the wind, swinging his blade wildly. It left him open to attacks, which the buggy Heartless took advantage of.

Why won't you just die! Vanitas silently cursed the damnable thing. In his thrust it was more effort than was needed. The damn thing managed to slide to the side because of its glitch. Then, faster than he could see, it leapt at him, swinging its feet like a mini killer tornado. He blocked it, then got away. He needed a new plan.

Knowing he was screwing up short range attacks, Vanitas decided that long range might be better in this case. Twisting to face the thing, he activated his Strike Raid. He threw his Keyblade at it. The bug didn't move and the Keyblade hit true. He was happy to see that it took out a considerable chunk of its HP. It gave him some hope.

Hope renewed, Vanitas knew what he had to do.

With this Heartless being the only one left Vanitas freely spammed the long range command when he could. He learned to time it just right when the Heartless rested after attempting an attack at him. After he got it down, it was easy to take out the damn thing. The number one appeared on the bugs defeated. He didn't have long to celebrate when another group of Heartless like the last spawned.

Once again, he was forced to fight them off with another Heartless glitched out to be insanely fast. This time, he knew what he was up against and how to deal with them. It took him half the time and only one Potion-his remaining one before it restocked from his inventory after battle-to take them out. At the end he was satisfied to see the bug counter go up to two. The room also changed to a calm blue like the other room.

Then, in the center of the pit, a portal appeared.

"The gate is now open. You are free to leave the glitch," Orion explained. "Everything should be fixed as well since the bugs have been eliminated."

He was glad to hear that. He wasn't sure whether to trust the system to trap him there. Now he had a way out. He quickly made his way to it. He couldn't have gotten out fast enough. It teleported away from the blue rooms and back to the simulated Twilight Town.

xxx

The portal sent Vanitas back to the data Twilight Town again where he had entered the glitch. He touched back down to the concrete, glad nothing was that mind numbing blue.

"That could have gone better." Orion flew out to hover in front of him. His tiny wings fluttered like a hummingbird's. "If I had known you would do so terribly, I would have told you to get more Potions."

"It's not my fault those Heartless were at a higher level than me," he grumbled, rubbing his side. He noticed, while battling the Heartless bugs, he had gained a new level, which increased his health bar. It wasn't noticeable, but he was sure once he accumulated more HP he would see it at a significant length.

"Although your performance was abysmal, you managed to complete your task. The glitch has disappeared."

"Has it?"

"Yes, but it will not be noticeable until you return to the three kids."

It made sense. The only thing the glitch affected was the door.

They headed back up the slope to the back alleyway. He reached the top to see Hayner, Pence, and Olette had exited the back corner, the chain link gate thrown wide open. Hayner and Olette were quietly conversing about something. Pence was busy examining the blocks with an eerie delight.

"Looks like you guys got out alright," Vanitas said. He smirked as they were all startled, whipping around. He just loved catching people off guard.

"You're way too quiet. You know that's creepy, right?" accused Hayner, scowling at his delight.

"I gotta get my kicks somewhere."

"That's messed up."

"Hayner," Olette chided, elbowing her friend in the diaphragm. "Were you the one to help us break out?" He nodded. "Thank you for the help, then. We really appreciate it."

Vanitas shrugged.

"It was nothing. Don't worry about it."

"No, really. You could have just left us in there but you didn't."

"Yeah, we owe you one," Pence agreed, nodding along with his friend.

"Why are you thanking him? How do you know if he's really telling the truth?" Hayner jabbed an accusing finger at him. "For all we know he could be with the weird black coat guy! Heck, he could be behind all these blocks and the things going on!"

"What weird black coat guy?" This was the only thing Vanitas had caught on. "I'm not with the guy you're talking about."

"Right before we got locked in the hideout, we saw this guy in a black coat walking around," explained Pence. "We've seen guys walking around in black coats before, but this guy we saw was acting really suspicious. I couldn't help but feel like he was watching us."

"You thought so, too?" Olette put a hand under her chin in thought. "I felt like it was always the same guy watching us, too."

"Just wondering, but how tall was this guy?" Vanitas asked.

"I think about-" She held up a hand flat an inch higher than her, "this tall. We don't know what he looked like because he had his hood up the whole time."

Vanitas nodded. He was right in helping the three. They just gave him the answer to his own problem with Axel.

"Like I said, I'm not with the guy, but I'm looking for him for someone. Do you know where he went?"

"I think he was headed somewhere to town."

"The mansion," said Hayner out of nowhere. Vanitas raised an eyebrow. "That's where I think that guy was headed. There's only one place in town where weird stuff always happens and that's the mansion."

"Got it." Vanitas already knew that the mansion was the one place where he could find all the answers. It remained true before and it would always hold true now. "The three of you head on home. Once I find that guy, hopefully the town will go back to normal."

"How do you know?"

"What are you planning to do?"

Both Hayner and Olette spoke. They both looked at him in expectancy. Vanitas was only too happy to disappoint.

"Don't worry about it," he repeated. He smirked at their slumped shoulders.

As Vanitas asked, the three teens made their way out of the alleyway to head back home. He decided to wait for them to actually leave. He spotted the three hanging around the corner. There was no doubt those three curious kids would follow him to the mansion. They may have been bits of data, but they acted so much like the real thing.

I shouldn't let my feelings get in the way, he thought, beginning to make his way to the mansion through the Sandlot. Several Heartless bugs came in his way to try and stop him. They were easy experience for him. It was true that he had some lingering feelings for the few acquaintances he made in the real world. They were annoying things in an artificial world. Why have feelings like fondness or concern for replicas like data? If they actually got hurt, they could easily be salvaged. The worry he had for his trapped friends were more important.

He needed to consider what was more important. Data could be recovered. Despite his own miraculous return, human lives would never return.