Roxas blinked awake, barely remembering the dreams he'd had last night. Normally he'd be rejoicing at this, but this time it vexed him. All he could remember was something about Kingdom Hearts… a promise from Sora to Kairi… Anxclof leaving him to seek out her own path… and…

Was that guy with the two Keyblades… me? The voice had certainly sounded the same, but it wasn't the way Roxas would normally act. He wasn't an impulsive kind of person who would spit at someone for asking him the question he couldn't answer.

Or was he?

Shaking these thoughts out of his mind, the blond got up and absent-mindedly put his clothes on before heading out to the Usual Spot.

He entered and saw Hayner, Pence and Olette talking in a circle. Roxas laughed inwardly at the sight of them having fun. "Man, I could not sleep last night…" he said, a slight hint of a laugh to his voice as he rubbed the back of his neck with one hand. Part of him really did want to laugh this off, and that would be easily possible if he could just spend the last days of his summer with his friends.

But to his surprise, the others just continued talking as though he hadn't spoken. The boy blinked, and raised a hand to nudge Hayner. "Guys?"

And even more mysterious, his hand just went through his friend. The others grinned at one another and rushed right past him out of the Usual Spot.

Roxas felt a myriad of emotions swirling through him: shock, a bit of panic, frustration at this new problem. He stepped up to the box where they kept their photographs and rummaged through them, just out of curiosity.

A new feeling entered him as he saw that all the photos that originally had him in it were now missing him, as though an invisible pair of scissors had managed to cut him out without ruining the rest of the picture.

And that feeling was fear.

Roxas exited the Usual Spot, partly to go see where his friends had gone, and partly to see whether or not the rest of the town had been affected the same way Hayner and the others had. But mostly, it was just to distract himself from the fear that was pumping through him.

He took a few tentative steps forward, only to leap back as one of the white things materialized in front of him. He whipped to the side when another one appeared next to him, surrounding him on all sides other than the wall.

Roxas turned upon noticing that one of the portals of darkness had opened behind him, and faded to reveal none other than the pyromaniac Axel.

Now, Roxas had thought a good long while about what Namine had said, about him and Axel being best friends. At the time he had cast it scornfully aside, saying that he didn't make friends with people who tried to kidnap him and/or kill him, but lately… he had been getting… even more memories. Memories centered not around Sora, but of himself. Of himself and the redhead, sitting on top of the skyscraper from his dream, talking. Of Roxas and Axel training together, or joking about something that had exploded or malfunctioned in a certain blond scientist's lab. Of Axel and Anxclof laughing hysterically at the sight of a man with a dirty blond mullet terrified at something they had just done to scare him; and Roxas shaking his head in silent, yet amused, rebuke.

Yes… as much as Roxas hated to admit it, it seemed like he and Axel really had been friends in what felt like another life.

The redhead broke Roxas out of his reverie by sighing as he rubbed the back of his neck. "Look at what it's come to. I've been given these icky orders to destroy you if you refuse to come back with me." He turned his gloved hands, palms up, in a slight shrug that said 'orders are orders'.

Roxas furrowed his brow as he thought of what to say. "We're…" he finally began. "We're best friends, right?"

Axel acted as though Roxas had not spoken, sighing and turning away slightly. "Yeah, but I'm not getting turned into a Dusk for…" Suddenly the blond's words seemed to hit him and he whirled back around, an excited look on his face. "Wait a sec! You remember now?!"

"Yeah."

"Great!" As abruptly as Axel's excitement had come, however, it was over, replaced by a sort of blustering nervousness. "But, uh, gotta make sure and all. So, um…" He thought to himself for a moment. "What's our boss' name?"

Roxas blinked and searched his memory as hard as he could, but nothing came up, other than 'the Superior'. He hung his head.

Axel let out a deep sigh. "Can't believe this…"

With that, he snapped his fingers, and the white creatures came gliding at Roxas. The boy quickly summoned the Keyblade and knocked them aside, only to come face to face with a new enemy. It was almost feral in its movements, disappearing underground so that Roxas couldn't attack it. After a while of trying to get it out of its hiding place, the thing suddenly exploded, knocking Roxas backward.

Note to self – those things have a time limit, he thought almost dryly, turning back to Axel.

The pyro had his chakrams out, spinning them on one finger on each hand. A look of deep regret was in his emerald eyes, a look that plainly said I don't want to fight you!...

Nevertheless, he raised one weapon as if to attack, only to freeze in midair.

Roxas relaxed out of his battle stance, straightening up and lowering the Keyblade. What the heck?

Suddenly there was a voice in his head.

"Roxas, go to the mansion! The time has come."

The blond blinked, putting a hand to his hair as though that would make everything stop. He had a weird sense that he was dreaming up all this… that he would wake up, head to the Usual Spot and joke about it. Yeah, I had this really freaky drawn-out dream last night. I had these visions, of black-coated guys and this girl I thought I had a crush on, and – you won't believe this – I actually fell off the clock tower! Pretty wild, huh?

No, he realized. This was no dream. He couldn't deny it any longer. Something weird was going on, and apparently he had to go to the mansion to find out what it was.

He couldn't help the twinge of despair, though, and he lifted his head to the sky. "Hayner! Pence! Olette!" With that, he headed off in the direction of Tram Common.

Axel stood at the entrance to the Usual Spot, and let out a sigh. "The Roxas I knew is long gone," he murmured, raw desperation in his voice. "Fine, I see how it is…"

Roxas fought aside all the white creatures that got in his way – where are these stupid things coming from anyway? – and managed to reach the mansion. To his dismay, it was locked, and more of the thin white things were slithering toward him.

He backed up, so that he was practically pinned against the door. "Don't call me and then lock me out…" he muttered.

Suddenly a vision went through his mind, of young Sora lifting the Keyblade, of the beam of light shooting into the lock. "Of course…" Roxas murmured. He raised his own Keyblade into the air and concentrated.

A beam of light, so identical to his dreams that he almost willed himself to wake up right then and there, fired out of the weapon, into the keyhole, and opening the door. "Awesome," the boy muttered to himself, and ran through the ruined courtyard into the building.

Meanwhile, the white creatures had attempted to follow, but in a whoosh of the air a hooded figure had appeared from the trees. It raised long twin swords, one in each hand, as the enemies charged forward to attack. A feminine cry of "Come on, then!" rang through the air, and then it was silent but for the sound of her weapons hacking through the Dusks in squelches of blood-that-wasn't-blood.

It occurred to the boy that he had no clue where in the mansion he was supposed to go. Feeling rather stupid for following his impulses, he looked around.

He guessed he could just explore and see what happened… but there were always those weird enemies…

But he could fight them aside anyway, weak little things –

Great, now he was starting to sound like Hayner.

Chuckling a little weakly to himself, Roxas headed up the stairs, defeating the white foes that got in his way as he did so. He entered the room near the end of the hall.

He closed the door behind him and looked around. Roxas realized that this was the room he had been in only yesterday, when he was talking to Namine. He started to pace the perimeter of the room, looking at the drawings as he went. There was one of him in the black coat standing next to Sora, and another of Sora giving Kairi a strange-looking fruit. Roxas stopped as one picture in particular caught his eye. It was of himself in the black coat, running, with a backdrop of murky navy darkness behind him.

As though on a signal, a ringing began in his head – trivial at first, like a fly in one's ear, then growing so that his head pounded white-hot with pain. Roxas fell to his knees, groaning in agony and holding his skull, as visions pulsed through his mind…

A darkened city, full of neon lights. The unmistakable sound of rain striking against the concrete, and thunder booming. These things seemed to only slightly register in the back of Roxas' mind as he walked through the street.

He passed a few darkened pillars that were holding the roofs of the "shops" up. Against the wall behind these pillars leaned Axel.

"So," the redhead murmured, not opening his eyes, but rather seeming to sense his friends about to walk right on past him, "your mind's made up?" His voice didn't carry the usual cocky arrogance, but sorrow for what his friend was about to do.

Roxas sighed and turned to his friend. "Why did the Keyblade choose me? I have to know. And if that means I have to leave…"

Axel's green eyes glittered with alarm and he whirled to face Roxas, walking quickly up to him in a flurry of foot-taps against the ground. "You can't turn on the Organization!"

As abruptly as it had come, the pain was gone. Roxas moaned softly as he got to his feet and rubbed his head.

"Roxas?"

He turned at the sound of Namine's voice. Sure enough, there she was in her chair at the end of the long white table.

"Organization XIII…" he murmured, walking up to sit in the chair opposite her. "They're a bad group, aren't they?"

"Bad, or good. I don't know." Namine shrugged. "They're a group of incomplete people who wish to be whole. To that end, they're desperately searching for something."

"What?"

"Kingdom Hearts."

Remembering his dream, Roxas laughed softly.

Namine tilted her head to the side. "Funny?"

"It's just…" Roxas looked down at the table, and then back up at the girl. "I guess I've been running away from the question I really wanna ask – what's going to happen to me now? Nothing else really matters anymore."

"You are…"

Roxas looked back up from the table and saw that Namine was starting to fade. He pushed himself up from the chair slightly in his surprise. "Namine? What –?"

Her fading in a sea of white-and-yellow pixels was immediately heralded by the appearance, in a series of bleeping and flashing numbers, of the red-wrapped man from two days ago, when Roxas had first fought Axel.

The man spoke. "There is no knowledge that has the power to change your fate."

"But what is that fate?" Roxas demanded. "I want to know. I have the right to know."

The other laughed, causing Roxas' temper to flare up. "What's so funny?" he yelled.

"A Nobody does not have the right to know. Nor does it even have the right to be."

"But what is a Nobody?" Roxas shouted. "Tell me now!" As he spoke he summoned the Keyblade and got into his battle stance.

"Now is not the time for fighting," the other said reprovingly, the way a teacher might talk to an especially rebellious student.

In a flare of darkness, a hooded black-coated person had appeared. "DiZ, we're out of time," it said, identifying itself as the one who had stolen the munny. "Too many Nobodies!"

Another portal of darkness coalesced next to DiZ. "It's just as well," the red-clad man said. "Char has a job to do anyway. We'll want to get her started on it as soon as possible."

Namine stood in front of the portal, and spoke quickly, trying to get her message across before DiZ took her away. "Roxas, Nobodies like us are only half a person – part of the same heart of our other. You won't disappear – you'll be whole!"

Roxas blinked in alarm, for in his panic he'd heard only the negative word of her speech. "I'll… disappear?!"

"No!" Namine said frantically, even as DiZ stepped up behind her. "You won't disappear! You'll –"

At this point DiZ covered her mouth with one hand, holding her back so she couldn't reach Roxas.

"Wait!" Roxas cried, and ran forward with the Keyblade in hand to try and stop DiZ. But the hooded man blocked him, reaching out an arm.

Namine managed to shove the man's red-gloved hand from her mouth so she could speak. "Roxas!" she said, struggling against DiZ's grip. "We will meet again. I may not know it's you, and you may not know it's me. But we will meet again, I promise!" This last part seemed to come from a long way off, because DiZ was already stepping back into the portal of darkness.

"Namine! Wait!" Roxas reached out with his free hand, but DiZ, Namine, and the anonymous man had all vanished.

Roxas stepped into the library, and saw a dark brown table, a different color than the rest of the room. He stepped forward, took out a yellow crayon he had taken from Namine's room, and, letting his instincts guide him, drew out the symbols for the Heartless and the Nobodies on the golden, Venn Diagram-like circles in the middle.

He felt the ground rumble beneath his feet and raced back toward the door just as the floor disappeared beneath where he had been, revealing a flight of stairs that led below.

This will all end soon. I just know it.

Roxas descended the stairs and entered the room just below. He blinked at the sight of the bluish-purple walls and saw a multiple-screened computer, complete with chair and keyboard. Curiosity compelled him forward to look at what was on there.

A picture of a boy whose hair was much more rebelliously spiky than Roxas' own was glowing pale blue. A few bars that were filling over and over again were next to said picture, and next to that, a message in the middle of the screen that read "Restoration at 99".

Sitting beside the computer was an odd device that Roxas felt should have some meaning…

With this thought the ringing from before returned, only much worse than before. It felt like his head was splitting open with the agony…

And another flashback went through his mind, causing the pain to resonate even more…

…A circle of thirteen chairs, lined around a patch of floor with an odd symbol on it – the symbol of the Nobodies – greeted him in his mind's eye. Roxas could recognize every one of the people sitting in each chair, having memorized the order even in his short time in the Organization.

And the one sitting upon the lowest chair of all was…

Is that…me?

Roxas raced out of the city, the white creatures – Dusk Nobodies – slithering through the air after him.

"Why?" the silver-haired one cried. "Why do you have the Keyblade?"

Roxas swung his white weapon out to the side. "Shut up!" he snarled, and leaped forward to deliver the final blow…

Only to have something strike out hard at his chest with one of two twin blades, causing Roxas to fall to the ground.

The silver-haired one looked around and saw another darkly-coated figure, this time with long red hair and blue eyes, lower her own weapon – one of them, anyway.

"I could've taken care of that myself, Char," he grumbled.

"You looked pretty helpless to me," Char retorted, and he merely rolled his eyes.

"Let's go," she said, mood turning solemn at once. "We have to take him back to An – DiZ."

The other nodded. "Yeah, I guess you're right." With that, he thrust Oblivion into the ground, hilt up, next to the unconscious Nobody.

Char and her companion turned as one, and the silver-haired teen put out a hand as though to summon something, but before he could do anything a soft growl came from behind them.

It was Roxas, pushing himself to his feet. One eyebrow lifted over the dark blindfold in surprise, while Char just looked angry that her attack hadn't been enough to finish off the blond.

In one swift move Roxas had pulled the black Keyblade out of the ground and charged at both of his foes; Char whipped to the side, barely avoiding the dangerous blur of metal, and in the same moment swept around to stand behind him, her own dual swords at the ready. The silver-haired teen leaped back out of the way just in time.

"Quit fooling around!" snarled the Nobody.

"Who said we were?" Char retorted, causing Roxas to whirl around and glare at her. "Besides, Sora…" She emphasized the name with an almost taunting tone.

"Are you done already?" asked her companion, smirking. "Pretty pathetic, Sora, if you ask me."

"What're you talking about?" Roxas said, before he could stop himself, turning to look at his blindfolded foe as he spoke. "You're the ones who're losing!"

Char blinked slowly, and the silver-haired teen sighed, sadness showing despite the blindfold that concealed his eyes. "So… you really are his Nobody…"

"DiZ was right, eh?" the redhead murmured.

"Why do you keep talking about that guy?" Roxas jerked his head up from where he'd been looking at the ground to scream at his enemies. "Shut up about that! Just shut up! I'm myself! I'm me!" As he spoke, voice rending the storm-filled air with its fury, Oathkeeper and Oblivion reappeared in each of his gloved hands, and he charged again at the other boy. The white Keyblade struck the silver-haired teen hard on the arm, knocking him backward with a cry of pain.

"Riku!" Char instantly leaped in front of her wounded companion, a look of pure rage distorting her countenance as she got into her own battle stance, dual blades out to her sides.

Riku fell to one knee, his uninjured palm out to catch himself. The redhead had already jumped at Roxas, but the blond parried her blow and thrust her weapons out of her hands; in the split second after he had disarmed her, the Nobody had managed to knock her to the side so that she skidded across the ground next to her swords.

"You two can't beat me no matter how hard you try, can you?" Roxas hissed, a mixture of triumph and anger in his voice.

"Guess not…" Riku's free hand – the one at the end of the wounded arm – moved to the back of his hair, toward where the blindfold's knot was. His mouth winced slightly at the pain of teasing his injury. "Heh… it looks like I have to do it."

Char's head jerked up from where she was massaging her pained wrists. "Riku, you know what'll happen if you –"

"I do know!" the silver-haired one interrupted. "But I need it now."

Before Char could react, Riku had undone the blindfold, and the black strip of cloth fell to the ground, revealing the teen's eyes as a dark aquamarine. The breath caught in Char's throat as Riku spoke.

"The power lying within my heart… the power suppressed by my heart…"

With a cry, he was enveloped by a dark violet light; Roxas crossed his Keyblades in front of him in a guarding stance. Char laughed softly, bitterly, and ran her fingers through her hair.

"Riku, you damn idiot," was all she said.

The light faded, and Riku's form was replaced by a much taller one, with long gray hair, tan skin, and amber eyes. Behind him hovered the "guardian" that Ansem usually had with him, reptilian and floating above the boy's shoulder, waiting for orders. Riku had transformed into none other than Ansem himself, and before Roxas could blink, his enemy had appeared right in front of him, no more than two feet away. His arms came up and seized Roxas in an iron grip; the struggling blond soon felt himself fall limp against "Ansem's" hands, and the Keyblades fell to the ground, promptly vanishing upon contact.

"The power of darkness," Riku – or was it Ansem? – said, his voice now much deeper and more commanding.

Char got to her feet. "I suppose you'll want me to call you Ansem now, too?" Anger and sadness were audible in her voice, as well as blatant in her icy eyes.

He turned to face her, looking startled. "What do you mean?"

"Well, now that he's possessed your body and soul and all…" She waved her hands mockingly as she spoke.

"I hate to interrupt this charming little lover's quarrel," came a sudden deep voice, "but have you forgotten we have work to do?"

Char narrowed her eyes and took a deep breath. "Yes, DiZ," she muttered without turning around to look at the one who had just stepped out of the dark portal.

Riku turned, though, and lowered his eyes guiltily. "You know I only did what was necessary, DiZ."

The red-clad man laughed. "Of course, Riku; of course."

Riku frowned. "Call me Ansem."

The younger two followed him through the darkness, Riku putting his hood up. Even as he did so, Char was glaring daggers at him and rubbing her knuckle furiously across her nose and eyes.

Roxas lay unconscious beneath the device. Char and Ansem stood near the red-wrapped man as he pressed a few buttons on the keyboard.

"Will it work?" Ansem, currently hooded, asked at last.

"If we can maintain the simulated town until Namine finishes chaining together Sora's memories," DiZ answered.

Char looked as though she had been holding something back, but now she spoke. "DiZ… if I may…"

The man in question turned to look at her.

She spoke hesitantly, chancing a quick glance at Ansem. "Well… the question that's really been bugging me is… What's going to happen to Roxas when we're done with all this?"

DiZ shrugged and looked back at the computer, resuming his work. "He holds half of Sora's power within him. In the end, he'll have to give it back."

"Poor thing," Ansem murmured, his stoic amber eyes filled with pity and something else as he gazed at Roxas' limp body.

DiZ laughed, dismissing his companion's words and causing Char to frown slightly and look up from where she had been staring at the ground. "It's the fate of a Nobody." He pressed one more button; a beam struck down from the top of the device, causing Roxas to become data and disappear.

…Roxas held his head, feeling the pain dilute slightly now that the memories had come back. He managed to get to his feet and stared at the computer, at the device that had taken him to what he now realized was the virtual Twilight Town. The longer he stared at the computer, the more his fury boiled up within him, until he finally let out a snarl and summoned the Keyblade. The computer continued to beep, making the room resonate with its sounds, as though taunting him.

And with that, Roxas lifted the Keyblade over his head and smashed it, hard, into the screens. Suddenly he realized that the red-haired girl he'd seen those two times was the one who had struck him down with her swords, and that sent even more frustration coursing white-hot through him, at the thought that he could've taken his revenge every time she'd shown up. Letting this anger possess him briefly, he struck out even more at it, until the screens were nothing more than cracked glass.

Slowly he rose up, breathing heavily from the force of his rage. He heard something behind him and turned to see that a door had opened.

Roxas ignored the part of his mind that screamed that something was wrong and walked right on through.

Almost as soon as his foot touched the threshold more of the Dusks had materialized. Great, he mentally growled, getting into his battle stance. Don't these guys ever let up?

He dodged past all their attacks, and defeated them all, even the ones that had the tendency to go underground where he couldn't get at it – the Assassin Nobodies, Roxas now knew. He felt a slight pulse of triumph at having defeated such an annoying opponent, but instantly chided himself. They're just Assassins, Roxas. Get over it; it's nothing special.

"Simply amazing, Roxas," came a voice dripping with sarcasm, and Axel came forward to pace in front of the boy.

Roxas felt a slight pang at the sight of his friend. "Axel."

The redhead stopped in front of him. "You really do remember me this time? Well, I have to say," he chuckled, "I'm so FLATTERED!"
Roxas took a step backward as the room erupted in a circle of flames. Axel summoned his chakrams and cast one arm out to the side, causing more fire to flare up and Roxas' fear to rise. "But you're too late!"

In that moment, the blond knew what he had to do. He concentrated and felt the Keyblades appear in his hands, one white, one black. The Oathkeeper and the Oblivion, he remembered.

He didn't want to have to dual-wield to fight his best friend, but from the looks of it there was no choice. Roxas felt backed into a corner. As much as he didn't want to fight the friend he only just now remembered, he had to.

Axel was clearly shocked as well, and muttered, "Two?", but abruptly the arrogant mask was back in place, the slight chink in it repaired at once. He swung the chakrams around on one finger and taunted, "Come here, I'll make it all stop!"
I don't think so, Roxas thought, and ran quickly to the side as Axel screeched, "Burn, baby!" and set the ground of the battlefield alight in a blaze of flame and coals. Roxas flinched instinctively at the feel of the heat beneath his shoes, but put it aside in his mind. He had more important things to think about…

Like figuring out how exactly he was supposed to get Axel out from behind the wall of fire that he had just concealed himself with.

As though answering his question, the pyro came flying onto the field, riding a wall of fire. Roxas whipped to the side and struck out with his Keyblade, knocking Axel into the air. Quickly, before the other could get back down to the ground, Roxas leaped up.

The sound of metal clashing on metal sounded as the Keyblades and chakrams met with clangs and sparks; Roxas jumped, pinning Axel to the ground, and beams of light shot up from the fiery field, rendering it normal again.

Now Roxas was free to continue his onslaught on the pyro, although he couldn't help but shake the sweat out of his eyes at the heat of the surrounding flames. Axel, on the other hand, didn't seem bothered by the temperature at all; on the contrary, he was grinning sardonically, enjoying every minute of it despite the fact that he was getting beaten by Roxas.

You always were weird that way, Roxas thought affectionately, but the gentle teasing instantly turned to pain as Axel flung the fiery chakrams at him, followed up by a wall of fire. Roxas tossed a Potion up quickly to heal himself and, before Axel could utter "Burn, baby!" in order to set the field alight again, got in a few more slashes with the Oblivion. This proved to be too much for Axel, as, unlike Roxas, he had no healing items to help him; both of them instinctively knew the battle was over, and that the blond boy had emerged the victor.

"Roxas…" the pyro exhaled, groaning softly as he fell to the ground.

The flames cleared with a low, steamy hissing noise, revealing that Axel was bent over almost double, barely managing to keep hold of his weapons. Roxas mentally ordered the Keyblades to vanish, and felt another memory run through his mind… of the night when he had left the Organization…

"Look," Roxas was saying without looking at his friend, "you didn't put up this much of a fight with Anxclof, did you?"

"But…" Axel broke off. "But that's different. It's not that I think you can't take care of yourself and she can, I just… I just…"

"Just what?"

Axel sighed. "You get on their bad side and they'll destroy you!"

Roxas gave a harsh little laugh. "No one would miss me."

With that, he walked away, without once looking back. However, he did hear Axel's parting words:

"That's not true… I would."

Roxas stared at his fallen friend, not feeling guilt for having beaten his best friend so much as sorrow. You think I didn't hear those words, Axel… but I did. "Axel…"

The redhead lifted his emerald gaze to meet Roxas' dark blue. He was grinning, as always, but his eyes betrayed his true feelings. "Let's meet again, in the next life."

Roxas nodded. "Yeah. I'll be waiting."
At that Axel chuckled, even as darkness began to envelope him. "Silly. Just because you have a next life…"

Roxas didn't get to hear the rest, because his friend had already disappeared.

The blond sighed softly and turned toward the door to his right. All I can do now is keep going.

However, as he went into the next room, he failed to notice the green-black-and-pink mound of swirling shadows just to the left of where he'd been…

Roxas crossed the threshold into the next room. The first thing he noticed were the pods: opaque, white, oval-shaped devices. Mildly disturbed, he looked around; two pods in particular – the only ones in the room that had something in them – caught his eye.

"Donald?" he whispered in disbelief. "Goofy?" Sure enough, the duck and the dog were each curled in their own respective pods, fast asleep.

If Donald and Goofy are here, where's… Roxas allowed his eyes to survey the room again, before they settled on the door just beyond him. He snorted inwardly. I wonder who's in that room?

Stopping to pick up the Potion nearby, Roxas took a deep breath and opened the door.

It was the bluish-white room from his dream a few days ago, when he had technically first "met" Namine. In front of the large pod in the middle of the room stood a certain red-clad man. Remembering all that had happened to him at the hands of this man, Roxas made as if to summon his Keyblades, but DiZ spoke before he could concentrate enough.

"At last," he murmured, his tone almost sarcastic. "The Keyblade's chosen one."

"Who are you talking to?" Roxas retorted, stepping forward. "Me? Or Sora?"

DiZ gave him a look that suggested the answer should be obvious. "To half of Sora, of course.

"You reside in darkness. What I need is someone who can move about the realm of light and destroy Organization XIII."

Roxas snorted. "Oh, really? And if I may ask, who are you?"

"I am a servant of the world." DiZ chuckled. "And, if I am but a servant, you should consider yourself nothing but a tool, at best."

Roxas stared at him, his temper beginning to rise again. "Was… was that supposed to be a joke?" he snarled, and Oathkeeper appeared in his hand, followed by Oblivion in the other. "'Cause I'm not laughing!"

He raced forward with the black Keyblade raised, fully intent on running the man through with it. To his surprise and fury, it merely went through DiZ in a whoosh of bleeping and numbers.

"Oh, my apologies," DiZ said, as though this were but an afterthought. "This is only a data-based projection."

Roxas shook for a moment before lifting his gaze upward and letting out a frustrated scream that seemed to come from deep within him. He whirled around and tried striking with Oathkeeper, but that didn't work either. Both also did nothing; he continued to switch off like this until the data-DiZ disappeared. The boy fell to his knees, panting, only to hear the man's voice behind him and turn to face it.

"Come, over here."

Remembering all that this man had done to him, Roxas swung the Keyblades out to the side. "I hate you so much…"

"You should share that hatred with Sora. He's far too nice for his own good."

"No!" Roxas yelled. "My heart belongs to me!" He charged again and slashed at the data-DiZ with both blades, but predictably, the man just vanished.

Roxas breathed heavily with the force of his temper, and looked up at the pod. It began to open, all parts of it opening outward with a metallic whoosh. Roxas lowered his weapons and felt a wave of sadness wash over him as he saw the brunette sleeping within. "Sora…"

The Keybearer continued to sleep on, as if the Nobody hadn't spoken. The blond sighed softly and took a few steps forward, onto the foremost piece of the pod. "You're lucky," he said, feeling a strange smile make its way onto his face. "Looks like my summer vacation is… over."