Virtual Reality

"First things first: you need new clothes!"

That had been the rallying cry when the three girls arrived in Twilight Town, courtesy of Sora's Highwind. Xion had been unceremoniously dragged to a tailor, followed by several clothing stores in quick succession. Kairi had tried hard to get her to agree to give up the black Organization coat, but Xion was stubborn. As stubborn and hard-headed as Sora.

"It protects against the Darkness!" she objected, wrapping her arms around herself. "I'm human now, and I'm not a Princess of Heart or the Princess's former Nobody! You two are safe from the Darkness! If I have to use a portal…" What she didn't tell them was that the cloak was her only connection to a life she might have had before. The Organization was her only memories. They all had memories of their past lives to fall back on. Xion had never been human.

Therefore, the tailor was Kairi's form of compromise. Xion could keep the coat, as long as they could make it into something more stylish and less cult-like. That was how Xion found herself in a small clothing boutique. Kairi had gone to drool over jewelry, and Naminé had become distracted by a display of artistic, eccentric-looking t-shirts, leaving Xion to pick through a rack of clearance items, uncertain. She'd never had to shop for clothes before. She pulled out a white skirt with a pattern of large golden-yellow flowers, blinking at it. Naminé could pull it off. Hell, Sora could wear it. He looked good in white and gold. With hair the color of blue-black ink, it would look strange on her.

"You would look good in purple."

Xion looked over. A brunette girl was standing there, holding up a flowing, plain-white skirt to her own waist. She smiled at Xion, nodding. "With your hair color, darker colors will help your eyes stand out. I'm Olette. Nice to meet you."

"I'm Xion." She was acutely aware of how strange she must look to this girl, wearing the black skintight Organization pants and a black tank top.

Olette smiled warmly. "Come here. I'll help you pick something out." She took Xion's hand and pulled her over to a rack of sundresses. "My friends are off doing their own things today. One's training for the Struggle, and the other's at some kind of convention."

"My friends are here somewhere…" Xion murmured, glancing around for them. She liked Olette. Quite possibly, she'd just made her first real friend outside of their little group. Olette handed her a sleeveless sundress in a deep, royal purple and a pair of black flip-flops decorated with purple and blue beads.

"Try these on!"

Xion obeyed, and headed to the changing room. A dress wasn't much different from their long coats, but it only reached to her knees. She slipped on the flip-flops, folding her other clothes neatly and carrying them and her boots with her. When she stepped out of the changing room, she saw Kairi coming around the corner.

"Xion, you look amazing!" Kairi squealed. Olette looked over, hearing the familiar voice, and squealed in return.

"Kairi! Oh my god, the last time we saw you that redhead was kidnapping you! What happened?"

"Olette!" Kairi embraced the brunette, as Naminé wandered over with a smile on her face and a bag of new clothes in one hand. "It's a long story. I meant to come back, I swear!"

"You have to tell me all about it! I'll treat you all to ice-cream."

xXx

They paid for Xion's new clothes, and went back to the tailor to retrieve Xion's jacket. It now reached only to her waist, with wider elbow-length sleeves. The hood had been converted to a loose collar, and the beads that had formerly hung from the neckline now dangled from the zippers on the front of the jacket and the pockets. She slipped it on over the dress, doing a twirl happily. She'd never felt pretty before, but now…

Olette, true to her word, had taken all of them out for ice-cream. Naminé disappeared for a few minutes, and came back in new denim shorts and a long-sleeved t-shirt that had been designed to look artfully splattered in paint. After they were all contentedly munching on the town's famous blue ice-pops, Kairi told Olette a simplified version of the story.

"So Sora's okay! That's good. I'm sure Hayner and Pence will be glad to hear it." Olette said. "And you found Riku too! So why have you come back to Twilight Town?"

"We think some of the Organization might be here, and Sora wanted us to check out the mansion. They'd be there, if they're in this town." Kairi explained.

Olette nodded. "If the black-coated people are in this town, we'll find them. There aren't that many places to hide. I'll go with you to the mansion."

"Thank you." All three were happy that their friend could come along. Naminé, like Xion, had never truly met Olette, but they had become fast friends anyway. They finished their ice-cream and set off for the woods outside of town, slowing their step as the mansion came into view. Naminé hesitated. She had lived here for a while, and the memories of being stuck in the mansion with only DiZ, Riku, and the sleeping Sora for company were not the most pleasant. Xion hesitated too. Being part of Sora and Roxas for so long, she had unhappy remnants of feelings left over from Roxas's last trip to this mansion, when he'd been forced to realize that he truly wasn't going to be allowed to exist for himself.

"DiZ…" she whispered, the faintest amount of venom in her voice. Naminé touched her on the shoulder, smiling in understanding, and they hurried to catch up to Kairi and Olette.

xXx

The front door wasn't locked. It seemed almost too easy to just walk in, but that's what they did. Olette looked around, humming appreciatively. "We never came back here after Sora went inside. The gate and the door were unlocked, but none of us ever really wanted to go in. All those years of wondering, and suddenly it seemed more forbidden than ever even though the doors were open."

Naminé was silent, and then in a very tiny voice, murmured, "Go on ahead. I need to go upstairs." Kairi just looked at her for a second, then nodded, and Naminé smiled gratefully and darted away without a word. They watched her climb the stairs and disappear into one of the upstairs rooms, and then turned to their own hunt. The door to the right seemed promising.

It had once been a library, that much was obvious. The bookshelves still lined the walls, but an enormous rectangular opening was set into the floor, stairs leading down into a basement of some sort. Kairi and Xion went first, creeping carefully down the stairs. Olette hung back, and finally whispered, "I… don't think I should go. I'll wait up here. Do what you have to."

"Olette…" Kairi said quietly, but she understood. These were things that went beyond Twilight Town, and Olette seemed to realize that. Some things, other people were not meant to see. So, hand in hand, Kairi and Xion made their way into the basement. They walked carefully through the dim rooms, lit only by the faint glow of still-working lights, and opened the door to the computer room.

Xion gasped, seeing who was standing at the computer, and the blond man turned to them, and smiled.

"Princess." Vexen said cordially. "Interesting to see you here." Kairi had never met Vexen, but he knew who she was. "I am Vexen, formerly Number IV of the Organization." He glanced from Kairi to Xion, and asked curiously, "And who is your twin?"

Xion stared at him. Her memories of her first few days in the Organization were fuzzy at best. She remembered leaving Oblivion with Saïx, but there was a faint memory of Vexen, smiling at her as he helped her to her feet, talking excitedly to someone she couldn't see. "I'm… I'm Xion." she said, realizing that the scientist who for all intents and purposes could be called her father had never seen her face.

Vexen's eyes widened. "Even you were given…" He studied her intently for a long moment, as if trying to memorize her face. "You were indeed my finest replica, and obviously you gained a will of your own at some point, or Kingdom Hearts would not have seen fit to give you new life. How fascinating… Perhaps what happened with Repliku was not such an anomaly after all." He shook his head, to distract himself before that particular tangent of thought could go any farther. "In any case, Princess, why have you come here?"

Kairi hesitated. "Sora sent us. We're looking for an Organization member named 'Zexion'. He was kidnapped from Destiny Islands by Saïx." As always, a small shiver passed through her when thinking of the blue-haired man.

"And you thought they'd be here?" Vexen queried. "Oblivion or Never Was would be a better choice."

"The others are on their way to check out the castles." Xion said. "We came here. What are you doing here, Vexen? You… aren't with Saïx, are you?"

Vexen chuckled. "No. If I never see that sociopathic neophyte ever again, it will be too soon. I'm glad I haven't run into him." He indicated the computer behind him. "I was looking into what was contained on this computer. I discovered a nearly-complete data replica of Twilight Town, complete with actual, thinking people. It was built by Ansem, the true Ansem. It looks to be based upon the Tron program from the main computer that was in Radiant Garden. That machine over there," he indicated a round platform on the ground, where a second round piece hung overhead, as if to make a cylinder but without walls, "is able to encode a human being into data, to allow them to enter this so-called Data Twilight Town. The person can also be retrieved from the program and reverted to human as well. I'm researching if other worlds can be created in the same manner, programmed to be like the original, but with subtle nuances and differences to suit the creator's purpose. Surely there is a practical application for having a digital world that is accessible to truly live in…"

"If you aren't helping Saïx, then don't worry about us. We don't want to fight you." Kairi said. "We'll head back to the Islands to meet the others, then."

Vexen's smile was surprisingly warm for an ice-elemental. "I wish you nothing but the best of luck in your search, Princess. And Xion…" For a moment, an almost sad look crossed his face. "Enjoy every moment. Replica or Nobody, the opportunity to truly live again is precious. Farewell, and good luck."

"…Thank you, Vexen." Xion murmured. It wasn't what she'd been expecting, but it was wonderful to hear all the same. She waved, as she and Kairi left through the computer room door. Then it was back up the stairs to the library, and out into the foyer where Olette was waiting.

"Did you find anyone?" Olette asked.

"Vexen, one of the Organization. But not the one we're looking for." Kairi replied. "Let's go get Naminé, and then we should probably head home. Sora and the others might be back by now."

xXx

They found Naminé upstairs in the White Room, sitting on the floor next to the table, just looking at the drawings that covered the walls. Xion remembered coming to this room, looking at the drawings and seeing memories that belonged to Sora and not to her. But now that she was her own self, it was no longer so painful to look at the pictures.

Naminé was holding a single brown crayon, snapped in half, resting in her open hand. She looked up at the three girls who stood nearby, and said softly, "Marluxia broke them. All of them. He was angry at Vexen, and suspicious of Axel, and he took out his anger on me. All I had was half-crayons from then on." She glanced at the table, where a half-finished drawing of a person with a mop of silver hair and black over his eyes was sitting. "DiZ let me bring all of my art supplies to the mansion, but I had to leave everything here. Riku took me to Sunset Hill and sent me away with Axel, because DiZ wanted him to eliminate me, and he refused…"

"Axel looked after both of us, then." Xion murmured. "He's a good person."

xXx

All three embraced Olette, Xion thanking her for helping her with clothes. Olette smiled gently, and said, "Be careful on the way back to your world."

Kairi started to deny it, but remembered that Olette was smart. Smarter than her friends; no offense to the boys. So she simply nodded, and said, "Tell Hayner and Pence hello for us. We'll be back. I'll bring Sora and Roxas and Riku, and we can all get together and go to the beach or something."

"That sounds great!" Olette knew that the name 'Roxas' sounded familiar, but she couldn't place it. Kairi, Naminé, and Xion waved, and returned to the gummi ship. They hadn't found anything useful, but it eliminated one place that the Organization could be hiding. Maybe the others, on their worlds, had more luck.

Affectionately nicknamed the 'girl power' chapter. Olette even showed up! Sorry if you wanted Hayner and Pence, Blue-chan, but this chapter was girls (and Vexen) only. XD

So Mar is a crayon-smashing psycho, no-one likes DiZ, and Vexen's playing virtual reality. All is well. Haha. Next chapter we see what Axel and Roxas are up to in Castle Oblivion. Will they find Zexion? ...Probably not. XD

Hugs!
Li