Chapter 26

She felt like she was trapped in a cage with electric bars.

Naminé was lost in space. Her mind was void of thoughts. She was trapped in a cage that hung in the balance above two beasts in a nonstop battle that would do anything for her love. Their names were Roxas and Riku.

"Naminé?" Xion's voice penetrated through the blonde's thoughts. "You okay? You were out of it the entire flight here."

"Was I?" She was in the airport and had just gotten off her flight. Something about being on a plane for a few hours can wear a person out greatly. The airport was spotless, the words 'dirt' and 'dust' were foreign in this upbringing. The sallow walls are polished proudly. She noticed Roxas standing by himself in a secluded area with the phone to his ear. "Sorry, I'm just really tired. But hey, home sweet home, right?"

Xion nodded in agreement.

"Who's Roxas talking to?" Naminé decided to ask her.

"Kairi. She called him and said it was important."

"It probably has something to do with Sora's condition," Naminé said as she bit her lip. "I hope everything's okay."

She felt her phone buzz in her pocket. She pulled it out and saw that she had received a text. Her eyes widened to the context.

"Uh—I'll be right back. I need to use the little ladies room."

Naminé scurried away before Xion had the chance to offer to go with her. She turned a few corners until a hand grasped her by the mouth, roughly pulling her to the side. She was about to run away and scream to the nearby authorities that there was an assaulter nearby until she found that it was only Riku.

He had on a shady trench coat and a dark, black fedora to stay concealed.

"Riku!"

"Did you tell him?" He wasted no time getting to the point.

"I-I mean, um…" Naminé said as she averted her eyes elsewhere.

"So I take it you didn't?" He sighed.

"Well… no."

"How long do you plan on keeping it from him?"

"I don't know," she trailed. "I mean, I still have feelings for him, Riku."

"And what about me?" he asks as he places his hands on his hips.

Not a bad question, honestly. She didn't necessarily know how to respond. But right now, Riku seemed more like a path to a secure lifestyle. But is that a good reason to pursue a relationship with him?

"I-I still like you as well," she trembled. "It's just—you're asking quite a lot from me, you know? Me and Roxas, that's not such an easy thing to just split up. He was the first boy I could ever admit that I loved."

And the fact that she couldn't say that to Riku made her feel guilty. She felt like she was only giving the silver-haired boy half of her, where as with Roxas, she always gave him her all.

"Well, you and I are together now, so I'm sorry, but you're going to have to tell him some time. I don't want to be the guy on the side, Naminé. I'm sure Roxas wouldn't appreciate it if you did that to him either."

And she didn't want to have to have a guy on the side. It wasn't like she was cheating on Roxas, technically, she did dump him. Roxas didn't seem to think so. It was as if those words hadn't even been voiced by her. Quite frankly, it was a little inconsiderate. She meant it when she said she was done with him, so moving on shouldn't have made her feel this guilty.

The guilt was bent from Roxas himself. His relieved look when they finally reunited, his loving stare every time he simply glimpsed at her, and his words synced with his kindness all contributed to added stack upon stack to her remorse. With the way he was acting, she didn't even have the heart to tell him. Riku was expecting way too much of her.

"I'll try to, but if he's in need of some kind of support, I'll be there for him. I'm not about to cut him off if that was what you were expecting." Her tone was getting a bit more serious.

He waved his hands defensively. "I wasn't expecting that you would either way. That's not the issue here, it's just that you're supposed to be my girlfriend but I feel like I'm just some sort of backup instead."

"I mean, I did break up with him, but… it's hard, okay? Just give me some time. I promise, Roxie and I won't do anything."

Riku groaned as his posture sunk. "Fine."

She gave him an appreciative smile as she pecked him on the cheek. "Thanks!"

Naminé skidded off without another word. She didn't need Xion getting worried or suspicious. Riku sighed. He finally found a girl other than Kairi that he really liked, but somehow, something about how she acted around him felt off. How ironic that it would be Roxas of all people who's restricting him from his happiness. Were the Hikari brothers just destined to take away girls that he liked away from him? Nonetheless, he let her go do what she had to.

Naminé caught up with Xion and Roxas but was immediately hit with a depressing aura as soon as she came into contact with them, noting how Xion rubbed Roxas' back soothingly. It was like a whiplash that made her recoil slightly before being within their company.

"Uh… what's wrong, guys? Did I miss something?"

Roxas was about to open his mouth, but he couldn't even formulate a proper sentence. Understanding his pain, Xion spoke for him.

"It's about Sora."

...

His groaning was enough to propel him out of his sleep. Sora was slowly reintroduced to his dimmed room, discerning that he had nothing on but a wife beater and some shorts. He didn't remember changing, so it must have happened while he was half asleep.

Sora rubbed his head in an effort to soothe his whining brain. His impaired vision soon became focused and he rubbed the bitterness out of his eye. He got on his knees and opened his window, a flock of pigeons quickly soaring away at the sudden unbolting of the pane. He sighed wearily at the setting sun, an image that had been copy and pasted from many days before.

It was still gnawing at him that he had no memory for what had happened to him for the past few months. He was simply inclined to believe whatever the redhead had said which wasn't comfortable. Sora never liked handing over his trust so easily, especially to a stranger.

Sora plopped down on his mattress, sinking into the surface. He muffled his head into his pillow until he heard footsteps enter his room. How rude to not even knock. And this had better not be that redheaded weirdo.

A hand shook him on his back.

"Sora?"

He knew that voice. It was his mother's.

Sora lifted his head to look at her immediately and he noticed the panicked waves on her expression dissolve into slightly calmer strides.

"Oh, thank goodness. You're okay…" She put a hand to above her chest.

She wrapped him into a hug.

"I was so worried about you, sweetie."

"Mom…" was all Sora could say. He didn't want to worry her by telling her that he had lost his memory, but not telling her could be dangerous.

"Sora, this might be a little hard for you to take in but… I kind of… lost my memory."

His eyes widened as he pulled apart from her.

"What?" he asked.

"The last I remember, it was the last day of your summer break. Last night I was packing you and your brother's lunches for school, next I know, I wake up, and it's the middle of winter break. Tomorrow's your birthday for goodness sake!"

It was funny how much their situations paralleled each others. But what could have been the foundation this kind of quandary?

"It took me a while to stop freaking out, but I'm just trying to digest all of this, one step at a time." She took a deep breath before giving him a smile. "So, could you fill me in on what's happened?"

He hated to disappoint her, but, "Sorry, I'm in the same boat as you. I woke up earlier and I… I can't remember what happened these past few months…"

Aerith clutched her arms. "How could this have happened? What on earth is going on around here? How could we both have lost our memory?" She clutched her head. "I'm freaking out, Sora! I can't take it!"

Sora had never seen his mother look so panicked. "Mom, cool it. Don't be so dramatic about it."

"But—"

"We'll figure this out, okay? Just—just don't get all crazy on me."

She didn't know how the hell her son could be so calm about this, but he was like a role model at this point. He was right, what was freaking out going to do? Absolutely nothing. Instead, they should be trying to find clues as to what has happened.

"Another thing, I kind of woke up with this girl waiting for me. She said I was her friend or something, but I haven't seen her once in my life." It was a bit overwhelming as well, since he didn't recall having any friends.

"That's strange, but convenient! We can ask her if she knows anything useful!"

He cringed at her rapid shift into an optimistic demeanor. "And what if she happens to be some kind of psychotic stalker?"

"I really doubt that'd be the case, Sora."

"Doubtful minds are the ones who get eaten by the bear first."

"What the hell are you talking about?"

He groaned. "Whatever, I don't even know myself. Anyway, what about Roxas? Where is he?"

She shook her head. "He's not anywhere around here. I'm only praying that he's okay."

"I'm sure that knucklehead is fine."

Aerith suddenly remembered something. "Oh, by the way, there's something I think you need to see." She gestured for him to follow her as they exited his room.

She led him to a door that was unfamiliar to his eyes.

"Check this out," she said as she presented the room to her son.

They stepped inside. The room had a smooth carpet, three hot pink dressers and a laptop, an HD TV mounted on the wall, and on the ceiling was a big painting of a girl with raven hair making the peace sign.

"Okay, now this is freaky," Sora said as his eyes attached themselves to the painting. He grasps his head in anxiety, for perhaps that auburn haired girl was telling the truth.

"I'm guessing whoever lived in this room is the girl in the painting." Aerith smiled. "She's pretty cute, don't you think?"

"That's not exactly relevant here." Could she please be serious for once in her life? "The point is that we have no clue who this is, nor do we know what happened for this room to even exist in the first place."

Aerith gasped into realization. "Do you think we were sent into another dimension?"

Sora rolled his eyes. "Mom, how on earth do you think we could have been sent into another dimension?"

Aerith covered his mouth with her palm as her eyes darted around the room cautiously.

"Mom, what are you—" Sora's muffled voice said.

"Shh!" she cut off. "The secret alien force may be watching as we speak. We must do what we have to in order to restore humanity back into its original time slot!"

He shoved Aerith away from him. "Come on, this is serious. Stop goofing around." Why did his mother have to be such an airhead?

She rubbed the back of her head with a sheepish smile. "Yeah, I guess you're right."

"I don't get it, how can you be taking this so light-heartedly. We don't remember anything that's happened from the past four months, and you're acting like it's no big deal."

"I'm just following your example. So you think it would be better if I were acting all paranoid like you?"

"That's what a normal person would do!"

"Really? Guess I'm just not a normal person…" she trailed as she absentmindedly began scanning the room.

He could totally vouch for that last sentence. His mother was such an idiot, sometimes he didn't know what to do.

"I suppose there isn't much we can do about it now," Aerith said. She had nobody that she could think of to call and ask to see if they knew anything about what had been happening to them. "But I need to know where Roxas is right now." She pulled out her phone and dialed the number.

While she did that, Sora exited the mysterious room, but not before taking one last gander at the eyes of the girl that had been painted on the ceiling. Something about those eyes seemed familiar, but he couldn't pinpoint it. It felt more like déjà vu from a dream more so than anything he could actually recall. He put these thoughts to the side as he wandered around the house for any more clues.

The house seemed the same, more or less. There were a few papers in places he didn't recall, different things on the table; basically it was as if somebody took the courtesy of rearranging the objects in the house rather than the furniture. But the fact that he had apparently lost his memories from the past four months was taken into consideration.

What was her name again? Kairi Lockhart, that's what she said. He figured that if anything, she'd have all of the answers he's looking for. She could tell him what's been going on. Unfortunately, he had no idea where to find her. She said that he was knocked out three days ago in gym class, but that had to be a lie if his mother had also lost her memory, and he highly doubted she was at his school with him to take the brunt of the hit with him. Maybe he was right before not to trust that girl so quickly.

He pulled out his phone and noticed that he had a whopping amount of contacts with so many unfamiliar names.

Contacts:

Kairi

Yuffie

Wakka

Tidus

Roxas

Selphie

Hayner

Olette

Naminé

Deleted Contacts:

Pence

There were some familiar names, such as Roxas, and he remembered hearing a girl by the name of Selphie being tossed around in conversation by his peers last year, but the majority of the names he didn't bear in mind. Had he really made that many new friends these past few months?

Sora went into his pictures. He discovered that he actually had photos of him with other people. And they were real! There was a photo of him and some boy around his age with scruffy hair at his school. There was another of him and a raven haired girl that look identical to the painting in that room. There were quite a few pictures of him and the redhead. One thing Sora was able to pick up from every picture was that he looked rather—happy. Sora hadn't felt true happiness in such a long time, but apparently, these mysterious friends of his granted him that prohibited delight.

Sora plopped onto a nearby chair at the kitchen table. If only he was able to remember that happiness, then all of this wouldn't be so bad. He popped up the picture of him and Kairi again. He looked so cheerful in it, Sora barely recognized himself. What the hell did he end up turning into these past few months? A walking Hallmark special?

Roxas busted through the door, anxiously darting his head in all different directions to find any glimpse of his family.

Sora was startled by the sudden action. He stood to his feet as he slowly paced his way over to Roxas in an attempt to confirm that it really was him.

"Roxas?"

Roxas shot Sora a glance and immediately grasped him into a hug. "Sora! I'm so glad that you're okay!"

Sora shoved his brother off of him. "Okay, just get off of me!" He dusted himself off. "I'm fine, so just chill, man."

Roxas rubbed the back of his head. "Sorry, I was just really worried."

"Just don't make a fool out of yourself."

Roxas sighed, the melancholy of this entire situation husking out of his breath. She was telling the truth. That cold look in Sora's eye had returned, and he obviously had no recollection of what had been happening all this time. This was not the mature, confident, out-going boy he grew to be.

Nonetheless, Roxas was just glad that his brother was back.

After his phone call with Kairi, she told him not to mention anything about what had really happened. She requested that he kept things simple so that Sora could ease back into a daily routine, something Roxas was reluctant to at first, but ultimately agreed to.

"Well, it's still good to know that you're okay."

Roxas lightly punched Sora on the shoulder.

"And still as rotten as ever."

Sora rolled his eyes. "Did you expect anything more?"

"I was—actually," he said quietly. He shook the comment away. "Anyway, do you need anything? Are you sure you're feeling alright?"

"I'm fine, really. But I appreciate the concern."

Roxas nodded. "You're my brother; I'm practically obligated to worry about you."

"Oh, so that's all I am is an obligation?"

Roxas shrugged with a smirk. "Did you expect anything more?"

Sora sighed in good humor. "Touché."

The two shared a chuckle. While he may not have been the admirable, responsible brother he grew to be any more, seeing Sora act like a snarky asshole was actually a little—dare Roxas say—nostalgic.

Now did he prefer this side of Sora? Of course not, but at least he knew that there was hope to bring back that side to him that everybody fell in love with. There was only one person who had the heart to do that once again.

Kairi, don't let him down.

This is a shorter, and uneventful chapter, I know. I'm sorry, but it's here so that it can set up how the next few chapters will pan out.

So, here's sort of an announcement. One of the reasons why it originally took me so long to update this story, or anything on this account, is because I was busy working on another story on a different account, called "Rags To Riches". I wanted to keep my identity secret like Kyorii did to see if I could have a positive reaction without all of my other wonderful readers, but I didn't even get six chapters in my new story before I was recognized. So updates for this story are about to be pretty varied because I'm going to be giving my new story and account most of my attention.

The only stories I'll be focusing on on this account from here on out is this, and The Time I Had a Sex Change. To Find Myself and Tormented Love will both be remade, starting from scratch because I didn't like the direction I went with them in the outcome. Even this story, DJABBIC didn't pan out the way I would have originally liked it to, but I'm gonna push to keep it going. My goal is to finish this story by the end of the year on December 28, 2014, which will make it exactly a year since I first published it.

Well, if you're interested to read my new story "Rags To Riches", my new account name is Painted With a Palette. Here's the summary just in case:

Princess Kairi had always been treated with respect. She was so used to getting whatever she desired with the snap of a finger, it turned her into a selfish teenager. Only one boy seemed to have the balls to treat her like a regular human being instead of a goddess. AU. Sokai.

Now I'll try my very best not to neglect DJABBIC. But unfortunately, there is no deadline date for chapter 27 this time. But it shouldn't take too long because I already know what I want to happen.

If this chapter seems lack luster or mediocre at best, it's because of the deadline in the first place. I didn't have much time to edit, revise, and make sure that I could perfect this chapter to the best of its ability. If you guys want a more quality product, then it will have to take some time. I've realized that making deadlines for myself just makes me rush it and takes all the fun out of it too.

Well, leave me a review and tell me what you think! Is it as bad as I think it is, or am I over thinking things like I always do? lol Don't be afraid to give me some negative feedback, because I'm always looking to improve. Just keep it constructive, and keep in mind that I didn't have much time to really perfect this chap to my own liking.

Much love!