AN: Hey all, Ventusblade here with the newest chapter of I Am Me. I felt bad about the massive cliffhanger in the last chapter, so I wanted to finish this chapter quickly. Whether that happened or not is another story, but that was my intent. Anyway, this chapter should be a very exciting one if everything went according to my plan. Without further ado, I present to you chapter 8 of I Am Me.

(Ruby POV)

After dinner, my team silently made our way to our dorm, no one wanting to discuss what just happened. We all went through our pre-bed routines, still maintaining the harsh atmosphere. Only when we had lain down on our respective beds did I try to broach the subject of Roxas and the events of dinner.

"I feel awful about dinner," I said, breaking the commanding silence.

I heard Weiss huff loudly. "I don't understand why. It's not as though you did anything."

Yang rolled onto her stomach and propped herself up on her elbows. "But you did. I'm with you on being concerned about the new kids, especially Roxas, but I also agree with Blake."

"I only said what was true," Weiss defended stubbornly. "The way I see it, there's a reason Roxas said Nobodies shouldn't exist."

Blake groaned in irritation as sat up on her bed. "We are not getting into this again. I already-"

"I'm not going to let you!" Ven's muffled voice yelled, seeping through the wall dividing his dorm and ours.

"What's going on in there?" I asked to no one in particular.

"Shh!" Yang exclaimed. "Let's see if we can hear what's up."

"This is so childish," Weiss admonished.

"Just do it." Yang commanded, rolling her eyes at the heiress' superior tone.

The four of us fell silent, waiting for the next outburst from the neighboring. We didn't have to wait long.

"This has nothing to do with you!" This time it was Roxas' voice. "It's about me! This is MY second chance, and I refuse to live it as an outcast!"

Are Roxas and Ven fighting? I was speechless. It seemed like Roxas was so in control all the time. To hear him so emotional was unsettling.

"Why are you acting this way?" Ven yelled. "Is this about what Weiss said?"

"Of course this is about what Weiss said!" Roxas yelled.

I stuck my head below my bed to glare at my white haired teammate. "Good job, Weiss!"

Weiss merely lay back down and rolled over to face the wall, pulling her blanket over herself.

"Ven let go of me!"

I looked across the room to Yang and Blake, a pained expression on my face. "Should we do something?" My voice came out slightly higher in pitch than I had intended.

Yang bit her lip thoughtfully. "As much fun as sneaking into a boys' dorm sounds, I think I'll pass. I heard about how Roxas and Ven fought on their first day, and I would hate to get in between that." With that, my older sister rolled onto her side and settled in to sleep.

"But Yaaaang!" I complained, annoyed by my sister's dismissive attitude.

Yang sighed and sat back up, looking up at me. "I'm sorry little sis, but I guess I'm just confused. I really want to give Roxas the benefit of the doubt, but we still don't know so much. I just need some time to think." Yang yawned and settled back into a comfortable position. "G'night, sis."

Finally I looked to Blake, only to find that the black haired girl was already laying with her back to me and the covers pulled over her head.

Guess this is a solo mission. I slid off my bed and tiptoed past my teammates to the door. Carefully, I turned the handle and stepped into the hallway.

I traversed the hallway, the hard floor like ice against my bare feet, until I found myself in front of the dorm numbered thirteen.

"Let go!" I heard Roxas yell from within the room.

"Not until you get rid of the corridor!" Came Ventus' muffled reply.

I took a deep breath and knocked on the door. Almost immediately the sounds of the twins' struggle ceased, giving way to frantic footsteps pounding on the ground.

"One minute!" Roxas yelled.

"We're…" Ven's voice paused, as if he were trying to come up with a valid excuse. "Doing keyblade wielder things!"

…What does that even mean?

A moment later Ventus opened the door to greet me. "Ruby? What are you doing over here?" The boy asked in an almost overly cheery voice.

"It sounded like you two were fighting. Is something wrong?" I tried to look past Ven into the dorm, but he moved to block my view. From what I could see, the twin's dorm was orderly and neat. The desk wasn't flipped over, there were no holes in the wall, and the floor was spotless. I couldn't see their sleeping area, but I had no reason to believe it would look any different from the rest of the room.

I momentarily halted my examination of the dorm and cocked my head to the side, a slight frown on my face. "What's that humming sound?"

"Nothing!" Roxas answered a little too quickly, simultaneously flicking his wrist. Strangely enough, the noise stopped after his quick hand movement.

That…was a little too convenient. "Oooookay. Anyway, are you guys sure that everything is fine? I mean, it sounded like you were having a seriously big argument." I eyed the brothers with a concerned gaze, the way a mother might examine a fallen child.

Ventus chuckled and waved his hand dismissively. "Don't worry about it, Ruby. We were just talking about some things." He smiled to ease my worry, but the warmth of his smile didn't reach his eyes.

Again, I looked past Ven, focusing my attention on his twin. Roxas had his head down and his arms at his side, but as soon as he noticed my gaze he flashed an obviously fake smile.

This is hopeless. "If you say so…" I could almost hear Roxas and Ven's sighs of relief. "See you at breakfast." I turned to walk back to my dorm.

"Yeah, sleep well," Ventus called after me as I made my way down the hall. Moments later I heard the slamming sound of his door shutting.

"Glad I could help," I muttered despondently, not bothering to even look over my shoulder.

(Ventus POV)

I leaned against the shut door, all my energy having left me. "That was way too close."

"And whose fault was that?" Roxas needled from a slumped over position, sitting on the edge of his bed. Thankfully he didn't sound angry or annoyed, just exhausted.

I smiled and walked over to join Roxas, plopping down onto the bed beside my twin as the wooden frame squeaked under our combined weight. "That would be you 'dear brother'," I joked, lightly poking Roxas in the side.

"Get real. Look which one of us started yelling first."

I flopped onto my back with a soft thud. "I guess I was being pretty stupid."

Roxas laughed. "Same here. Sorry for threatening to go through the Corridor. I just don't want my second chance to be just like my first chance."

"I know. I don't want that either." We enjoyed a quiet moment before I forced myself to get off the bed and stand up. "Anyway, we can talk about this in the morning." I started toward my bed, but suddenly did an about face. "Just promise me you won't go anywhere tonight."

Roxas jumped up and did a cheesy salute, similar to how I saluted back when I was Master Eraqus' apprentice. "Keyblade wielder's honor."

I sighed and shook my head. "How did Axel never push you off that clock tower?"

"A whole lot of self-restraint?" Roxas guessed in a lighthearted tone.

"It takes more than self-restraint to put up with you," I joked, much to Roxas' chagrin. "I'm going to sleep. See you in the morning."

(Roxas POV)

I found myself standing in a gray room in the shape of a semicircle. In front of me was a massive semicircular window acting as the front wall of the room. Outside the window, a heart-shaped moon shone brightly in the dark sky. Behind me was a long corridor. On either side of the room were small groupings of two chairs, a sofa, and a coffee table, all keeping with the gray color scheme of the room.

I recognized the room immediately. The Grey Room… Why am I at The Castle That Never Was? I don't remember walking through the Dark Corridor. And if I'm here why am I wearing my Beacon uniform instead of my Organization coat?

"Morning Thirteen!" called a warm excited voice.

I spun around to see Xion sprinting toward me from down the corridor. Before I could respond I heard my voice answer.

"Good morning Xion. Where's Axel?" Standing beside me was, well, me. The other me was clad in my Organization get up, long black coat zipped up from the top, black gloves, and black boots. "Don't tell me he's bailing on the trip to Twilight Town."

Xion shrugged, bouncing lightly on the balls of here feet. "He said he was going to sleep until Saïx drags him out of bed." She huffed in frustration. "How can he waste an entire day sleeping when we barely get any vacations?"

The other me smiled and shrugged. "That's Axel for you. Anyway, we should head out. We'll have a day for just us 'special Nobodies'." With that the other Roxas opened a Dark Corridor which he and Xion walked through.

"How is it watching your memories?" inquired a familiar voice.

I turned to find Sora, dressed in his usual baggy black and red outfit with his crown pendant hanging around his neck. "I take it you found a way to make the dream thing work?"

Sora beamed and placed his hands on his hips, as if posing heroically. "Was there ever any doubt?" He asked, lowering his voice to sound more dramatic.

I stared at Sora, both eyebrows raised to the point where it almost hurt. "Yes," I answered dryly. "What're the specs?"

"I can pretty much contact anyone as long as they're asleep, but only for a limited amount of time. It's taking me longer than I'd like to get used to controlling the light precisely," Sora conceded.

"You visit Kairi yet?"

Sora's reaction was better than I could have hoped for. He began chuckling nervously with an expression on his face that seemed to indicate physical discomfort. It was immensely amusing to see the supreme being of light terrified by a teenage girl.

"Didn't go well?" I asked, barely able to hide the smile growing on my face.

Sora cleared his throat attempting to regain his composure. "Yeah…" He paused, likely still traumatized by the verbal, and probably physical, beating he no doubt received from the pink haired keyblade wielder. "Anyway, there was a reason I came to visit. I wanted to ask if you'd been having any trouble with your keyblades."

"Actually, I had some trouble summoning Oathkeeper." I paused, confused why Sora would ask me that so randomly.

My Somebody simply smiled. "That just means she's almost ready to make her entrance."

"Xion?" I breathed hopefully, barely reaching above a whisper.

Instead of answering my question, Sora raised the pointer and middle fingers of his right hand to his forehead in a quick salute, the gentle smile on his face morphing into a toothy grin. "Tell her I say hi."

With that the dream faded to nothingness and my consciousness began drowning in the ocean of sleep.

BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!

I blearily opened one eye, afraid of where I might find myself. Thankfully, I was still in my dorm room in Beacon, lying on my comfortable bed. I was still wearing my uniform from last night, which I had never bothered to take off.

Maybe I can just go back to sleep, I thought as I slammed my hand down on the clock beside my bed to shut up the alarm, closing my eyes again.

"Roxas wake up!" Ven's loud voice and incessant tapping on my shoulder squashed my hopes of returning to sleep. His voice sounded surprisingly flustered for the day having just started.

"What?" I moaned, brushing off my twin's hand and turning over onto my other side. "Would it kill you to let me just sleep?"

"Just get up!" My twin exclaimed breathlessly, as if he had been running.

My eyes shot open as I pulled myself out of bed, realizing that something was seriously wrong. "What's going on? Heartless?"

Ven shook his head. "I went for a walk and found someone in the front of the school!"

I stared at my twin, the panic that had been building inside me transforming into annoyance. "Good job, Ven! If you want to find people, you go outside. What a concept!" I praised sarcastically before attempting to return to my bed.

"They were wearing an Organization XIII coat."

I froze mid stride, my eyes widening and my breath catching in my throat. "No way," I breathed. I spun around in to face Ven, my mind moving at an alarming pace. "Where?"

"Where Ruby and Jaune found us."

I didn't need any more information. I pushed past my twin and out of our dorm, sprinting down the hall.

I didn't stop sprinting until I reached Beacon's main entrance, frantically scanning the area for the person Ven had mentioned. Finally I saw them, the collapsed form of a girl, lying on the ground.

I recognized the girl instantly. Her short black hair parted to the right, her slightly rounded face and slender build, the purple and yellow seashell lying by her right hand.

As I stared at the collapsed girl, I felt tears welling up in my eyes. Only one word managed to escape my lips. "Xion."

AN: And that brings chapter 8 of I Am Me to a close. I hope you liked the chapter, especially the part where I FINALLY introduced Xion. I know it took me far too long to get to that, and I'd like to thank you all for being so patient. Anyway, I'll start developing Xion as a character next chapter, however I'm unsure as whether to simply continue following the cannon plot or to skip around to the best parts of Volume 1. What do you guys think? Now without further ado, let's move on to the reviews.

lioncousin: Glad you like the last chapter! To be honest, I forgot about Dark Coridoors until I went back to play 358/2 days (for the 18th time). Roxas losing his ability to use Oathkeeper is important, as you'll see later with Xion and her keyblade. That's the only hint I'm going to give. Well, aside from what I said in this chapter.luke shadowrider: You're welcome, and thanks for the politeness! Also, sorry about that cliffhanger, but I felt it was a good place to end the last chapter.The Eternal Forgotten: Yeah, I got a lot of people giving me grief about the cliffhanger. Should I try not to do those? As to why Roxas can't use Oathkeeper, I think I pretty much said the significance of that in this chapter.
Kuroyami Fukaikuro: Don't worry about that first review, I was just trying to remind people to be somewhat polite. It's one of my pet peeves. Anyway, I see what you mean, but I didn't want to cause any major conflict between the main characters at this point, especially with Roxas and Ventus just trying to fit in at Beacon.
SunnyStormCloud: Unfortunately, yes, I did have to finish the last chapter with a cliffhanger. I'll try to avoid those in the future.

And with that I bid you adieu until next chapter. As always, Read, Rate, and Review. Rinse and Repeat.

-Ventusblade