Next morning, the sky is clear when he wakes up.
"Leavin'?"

Roxas stops at the voice.

It had been too much to hope for a clean getaway, wasn't it.

He lets out a short sigh, and turns around towards the voice.

"Cid."

The man is sitting down on the cement. Roxas wonders how he hadn't noticed the man before, sitting in the shadows.

"…I never thought that you would be the next one t'leave." Cid says, a resigned tone in his voice.

"I barely know you all…No one would miss me." The words are out of his mouth before he can stop them.

What déjà vu.

Was his life on repeat constantly?

Cid gives Roxas a long hard stare. Then, he gives an odd smile.

"You're exactly like 'im, ya know?"

Roxas opens his mouth to ask who, but Cid beats him to it.

"Cloud. You're exactly like Cloud, kid."

Roxas stops, startled.

But then…he realizes…

It's true.

He smiles back.

"Yeah…I guess I am."

They stare at each other, neither knowing what the other is thinking. Roxas can only wonder what the old man is thinking about…

He wonders if he'll ever be able to come back after this.

Then, Cid gets up, wiping off the dirt and dust off his pants.

"Kid, do you need a ride?"

Roxas shakes his head politely.

"No, I'm fine. I'll find my way." He assures. Cid takes this in and nods.

"If you say so…" He pauses, almost as if about to say something. "I'll…I hope you find what you're looking for."

Such support from a stranger…

How superficially…comforting.

What a brief connection of understanding.

"Thanks."


Warm sunlight hits his skin, breathing off the chill of traveling through darkness.

Breathe in…

Breathe out…

Breathe in…

Breathe out…

Such familiar clean air.

He opens his eyes, looking over everything.

Such a familiar sight.

He can hear the bustling of the people, the kids at the shops, the trams rolling around.

Such a familiar sound.

Such a familiar place.

It only it was familiar.

Twilight Town.

Welcome back Roxas.


The first thing he does is go to the Landlady.

"Miss, I would like to rent a room for a week."

Had it been only a few days since he had last been here…? He's feels so different.

The Landlady stares down at him like a hawk.

"Aren't you a bit young? Where are you parents?" She asks sharply, looking around. Roxas can already feel himself reeling back in habit. Nonetheless, he keeps up his face.

"I assure you that I'm old enough. Please, do you have any space for me?"

She keeps staring at him, as if waiting to see if he will crack. Ticktockticktockticktock…she looks away, sniffing.

From her desk she takes out a notebook, flipping through it until she lands on the page she wants. Squinting, she looks at it carefully, her eyes moving up and down the page. Roxas begins to become nervous.

After a while of flipping back and forth, she answers.

"Well, it seems I do have one single room free…" She looks at Roxas, an air of business surrounding her. "What type of boarding? Bed-and-breakfast, half-board, or full-board?"

"Full…" He pauses. "No, bed-and-breakfast."

"Name?"

"Roxas…Strife."

The Landlady nods, and writes a little note before closing it with a snap! Roxas waits patiently as she digs through her drawers, searching. A few seconds pass before she holds out a gold key to him.

"This is your key. Second floor, the last one down the hallway, room 25." Roxas takes the key. She continues to talk. "I am the only one who has another key to your room. Bathrooms have a half-hour limit. Breakfast is at eight. You miss it, then you miss it. If there's leftovers, there's leftovers. You got it?"

Roxas nods.

Odd, he has his old room back.

"Alright. Go away now. Shoo."

Some things never changed.


Later that evening, after working off a few jobs, he buys a couple of disposable cameras.
Four days have passed and all he has done is work his butt off for money, buy cameras, and take pictures.

He's hasn't seen them yet.

It's on the fifth day when he sees Seifer and his gang. He almost wants to go up and challenge him, throw a water balloon at him, just something, something to grab his attention.

Yet he doesn't.

(Because he knows Seifer won't recognize him. He knows that in reality, he's never met Seifer before. He's never chased after rabbits with Vivi, attempted to cheat off Fuu, poked Rai in the back…not in this reality.)

Reaching into a duffle bag that he had bought from one of the souvenir shops, he takes out a camera and aims.

Click.


Day Six. Evening.

He suddenly wishes for all of those old photos…that one that he had taken with the shop owner, the one where he and the gang were in front of the mansion…hell, even the ones with Seifer posing over his unconscious body would be nice.

He holds a camera up in front of him, his finger over the button, wondering if he should attempt a picture of himself.

…Would it make a difference?

…Would it prove that he once existed in an alternate fake Twilight Town?

"Hey…do you need some help with that?"

He jumps, startled out of his reverie, dropping the camera accidentally.

"Whoa!"

The girl catches it and holds it out to him. She smiles.

"Sorry, did I scare you?" She says apologetically.

"Oh…"

Such a familiar face.

He can't speak.

Olette?


"Man…It's sad. Vexen had no good information. Xemnas had nothing. I have nothing. Now all that's left is Zexion and his room is impossible to get into anyway…You sure this will work?"

Xigbar leads Cloud down the hallway as he guides him through Castle Oblivion.

Cloud nods, steadfast and determined.

"Not in those words exactly…but yes, I believe that I can do it."

Xigbar raises an eyebrow questioningly. When Cloud refuses to say anything, he sighs, wondering how he's able to put up with him.

To fill the silence, he starts talking.

"So…How's Sephiroth, anyway? The madman still alive?" He asks casually.

Cloud is silent, seemingly impassive.

"…So that's a yes." He mutters to himself. He sighs. "…Huh…isn't that odd…"

He stops, standing in front of a doorway.

"Alright…here's the door to Zexion's old rooms. If you can crack it, go ahead and take any research you want."

Cloud nods, and takes out his Buster Sword. Xigbar makes no move to help him, simply leaning against the wall.

"By the way, I've just got to mention…How ironic it is how Number Zero is the first one to get a heart? Were you ever going to mention how that happened?"


"You were trying to take a picture of yourself, right? Here, let me help you."
Cloud merely shrugs.

"I guess I found my light." He responds blandly.

Then, he raises his blade and…

Wham! Cracracraaaack.

The door lies cracked, pieces of rubble and brick breaking off into a dust. A large gaping oval-shaped hole is the middle, created by the force Cloud's blow.

Cloud walks in, only pausing for a second.

"…Are you coming?"

Xigbar obligingly teleports to Cloud's side, looking around. He whistles, impressed.

"Damn! The little dude sure did grow up! You have gotta show me how you do that sometime…"


"Alright, here ya go!" Olette says, handing the camera back to Roxas. "So, are you new here around town? You don't look familiar…"

Why is his heart beating so fast?

Why does he feel so shy?

Such a familiar face…yet…

(…he's scared?)

He hangs his head down sheepishly.

"Heh…Is it that obvious?" He scratches his head. "Yeah, I guess I'm bit lost around here."

Pause.

Then…a giggle.

Roxas looks up, and spots the amused grin on Olette's face.

"Wha—What is it?"

Olette puts a hand to her mouth, as if attempting to hide her smile.

"You're so shy…It's kinda cute." She remarks, a cheerful twinkle in her eye. Then, she holds out her hand.

Roxas stares at it, unsure.

"…Why don't I show you around town?"


"DiZ…Sora's having some kind of reaction!"

DiZ looks up to Riku, his face narrowed in thought.

Immediately, the man twists around to his computer, typing speedily. After a few seconds, a neon screen pops up, showing levels and bars moving up and down.

DiZ leans back in his chair, incredulously murmuring and whispering to himself. Riku can almost swear that he's never seen such obvious emotion on the bandaged man.

"…Impossible…This shouldn't…It can't be possible…"

Then, his face suddenly changes as his commanding face comes back. With a flash he turns to Riku.

"You must find Naminé and bring her back here as soon as possible."


"Whoa…Zexion sure had a lot of research." Xigbar says, admiring the stacks of papers. "And man was he messy!"

Cloud is quickly shuffling through the piles, his eyes quickly skinning each page.

"It's probably a safety measure in case anyone actually got past his door."

Xigbar once again decides to stay out of Cloud's way, preferring to watch lazily as he sits down in a chair.

"So…tell me, kid…Why are you looking up information on the Nobodies? You aren't one anymore, remember?" Xigbar asks.

Cloud pauses slightly before continuing on his search.

"The information…isn't for me. All I need is to check some things." Cloud says, awkwardly forcing his words out.

Xigbar feels a smile growing on his face.

"My my…You really are a walking cliché." Xigbar remarks, enjoying how Cloud stiffens up at his words. "The stoic and seemingly emotionless guy with a soft heart deep down…"

Xigbar lets out a mock sigh.

"…How lame and boring."

However, before he can continue talking, Cloud stands up, a piece of paper in his hands.

"I found what I was looking for."


"So, are you free Sunday?" Olette asks. Roxas shakes his head.

"Actually, tomorrow's my last day here…" He says, looking up at the sky.

How ironic that he had ended up on top of the tower, eating sea-salt ice cream. He wonders if this is fate's way of being nice, or if it's just torturing him.

Olette frowns.

"You're not staying? Darn…" She pouts.

Roxas grins.

"Why? You attracted to my charm and handsome good looks?" He says, waggling his eyebrows suggestively.

Olette narrows her eyes, while grinning all the same. She whacks him good-naturedly on the shoulder.

"Che. What good looks and charm? All I see is same lame kid who can't even find his way around Twilight Town." She says, a condescending smirk on her face.

Roxas raises an eyebrow.

"So says the girl who can't even navigate through some underground tunnels."

Olette blushes in embarrassment.

"Hey! They were built pretty recently! It's not my fault that we had somehow ended up in Sunset Town!" She protests.

Roxas just keeps nodding, giving her a patronizing little pat on the shoulder.

Olette just continues to glare at him.

"…You…" She gives him a look that promises revenge. Then, she slumps back, a grin spreading upon her face. "Alright, alright, I give up. We both suck, okay?"

Roxas pretends to mull over it for a second.

"I suppose that's a fair assessment."

Giggle.

Roxas glances over to the side to see Olette giggling. He lets out a sigh.

"Now what is it? My hair looks funny? My voice squeaked for a moment?"

Olette covers her mouth with her hand.

"Who says the word 'assessment' these days?"


By the end of the day, he had gotten a picture with Olette.
"…You know, it feels like I've met you before."

Then, as if realizing the cheesiness potential of her statement, Olette cringes. She turns to Roxas, a hesitant look on her face.

"Er…You know that I'm not coming onto you, right?"


Roxas wakes up, feeling oddly lightened.

In his mind, he doesn't hear, This is the 7th day. This is the last day here.

He almost feels like…

Today, I'm going home.


He's not sure what to do.

But he wants to do something.

No…He knows what he wants to do.

With a deep breath, he finds himself going to the back alley…the usual spot.


"Hey…Sorry to bother you people…err…Olette said I could find her here?"
AN: Augh. Evil filler/aftermath chapter of DOOM. It's the annoying chapter where nothing happens but you can't go on with the plot until you finish it. It actually was supposed to be longer but...I couldn't force myself to write anymore. (This is the third version of this chapter that I've written so far) And Roxas won't stay in character! Grarr, die OOC kid! And I have no idea what to do with Namine. And Luxord. And Cloud.

For getting this chapter out this chapter, you guys owe me cookies. :D