Floor 119 – Educational faculties
Junior Learning
Classroom 2

One of the parts of the Arcology that showed the least changes was, as usual, a riot.
Though it's outward appearance changed little, except for the occasional change in displayed works, what was learned had varied wildly at times in the past. Under Sephiroth, and by extension Sora, it had begun to come closer to many education systems outside.
The rioting just happened to be the average behaviour of the children during recess.
Watching from the classroom windows out into the yard – if it could still be called that while inside the Arcology – stood Sora and one of the teachers, a tall woman who reminded Sora of Merle when he'd first met her, except she wore a light blue instead.
"I remember when I used to be that young," Sora mused. "It seems like so long ago."
"It's always the way. Are you sure you want to do this Grandmaster?"
"Why wouldn't I?"
"Have you ever tried teaching kids?" he asked with a sly look. "You can go against all the monsters you like, but I guarantee it's nothing compared to some of the terrors you'll find here."
"Oh, I don't know about that... I've never found anything to scare me off yet."
"We'll see. You might want to go ahead and hide. Recess will be ending soon."
Sora nodded, disappearing into a small storage room. It wasn't by mistake he chose it, though he'd readily admit he could have picked a better place to lie in wait. It did have all he'd need though.
The bell outside rang, and the sounds of play died down into chatter as they all headed for their respective classrooms.
There were several minutes of chatter, and not a few sounds indicating some games had made it into the classroom before the teacher rapped on the desk for attention. It was ignored once, but heeded the second time.
"Are we all here?" she asked. There was a pause, then she continued, "It looks like we are."
"What are we learning about today, miss Katie?" one young voice squeaked.
"She told us yesterday," another said. "It was something about other worlds, wasn't it?"
"You're right," Katie answered. "But would you believe that I forgot to bring what I'd need?" she asked in mock dismay. Sora quietly picked up a metal bucket from the floor, and a broom in the other hand. "What am I going to do now?"
The bucket was dropped, and the broom knocked against the walls. He made a few sounds as if he was caught in something, then waited.
"What could that be?" Katie asked, pretending to be puzzled. "Samuel, would you open the door there and see?"
"What if it's a monster?" someone, he guessed might be Samuel, asked nervously. "It might be waiting to eat me."
Sora kicked the bucket, and called out, "Ouch!" He hadn't really been hurt, of course.
"I don't think a monster would do that, Sam."
A few moments wait later, and the door was opened. Sora pretended to stumble out, blinking in the sudden light, then looked down to Samuel, who was looking slightly afraid.
"Well, hello there. Thank you for letting me out of there. It was terribly dark."
"What were you doing in there?" he asked Sora.
"It's the strangest thing. I was trying to reach my office, but somehow I must have made a mistake and appeared in there by accident."
The boy took his wrist, turning it over and around to look at the markings, then he jumped back, eyes wide.
"Who is it?" Katie asked.
"It's him!" Sam stuttered, more out of excitement. "It's our Grandmaster!"
Sora gave an exaggerated sigh, "And I try so hard to keep it quiet too, but it looks like you've discovered me."
"My, my," Katie murmured. "Imagine that. Do you think if we asked him, he might agree to stay with us for a while?"
"Oh, I couldn't do that," Sora shook his head. "I've got a lot to do you know. It's a busy job for me."
Almost at once, they all started asking him to stay. Over the cacophony of calls, he raised a hand and they began to quieten down again.
"But what would I do?" he asked them.
"You could teach us instead," one suggested.
"You could tell us stories of what you've done," another put in.
There was quiet for a few moments, then a third voice, somewhat sceptically asked, "Did you really fight against a giant bit of seaweed?"
"How did you know about that?"
"Dad told me about it. He said you looked greener then grass did afterwards."
"It took me ages to get clean again after that, did you know?"
"Would you tell us what happened?" There was a brief chorus suggesting they all wanted to hear this.
"It's not really all that interesting a tale," he protested mildly, but then they all seemed to insist on hearing it afterwards.
Sora finally nodded, leaning against one wall as he waited for them to quieten down again, then began, "This all happened some time ago, back before I became the Grandmaster. I'd been asked to go to this ship..." and launched into a slightly embellished version of his tale on the Destined Star.

Castle Oblivion
Chamber of Waking

The throne room was now a large blue-white room, empty but for the single remaining throne and it's occupant. Aqua glanced back, seeing Ventus on the throne. She nodded to him, then headed for Radiant Garden.
For a few moments, nothing stirred. Then Jamie appeared once more, stepping out from behind the throne. He looked after Aqua for a few moments, then down to Ventus thoughtfully.
After a few moments he seemed to reach a conclusion, and returned behind the throne to settle in for a longer wait.

Present-day

The blue-white room remained untouched. Symbols of the Keyblade Master were embossed on the walls, almost seeming to hang in the air
In the centre of the room lay the ornate throne, far larger than it's single comatose occupant. He sat half slumped to one side, feet only just hanging out over the edge of the seat. His head was laid against one side of the throne.
In his untroubled, unknowing sleep, he stirred just faintly.
"Sora," he murmured, then fell silent.
"He's coming," Jamie's voice murmured sleepily from behind the throne. "Just a little longer."
With a slight scrape, his spear fell down into view. It took a few moments for him to realise what had happened, quickly retrieving it and pulling it back out of sight again. He took a glance out from behind the throne as he did so, noting that as usual it was exactly the same. No one here yet. In due time though.

Twilight Town
Ansem's Mansion

Axel quietly made his way through the deserted mansion to the rooms Zexion and Vexen had set aside to stay in. No one seemed to have objected to their taking up residence here. Most probably most people didn't know it had residents again.
He opened one door slowly, glancing in. Vexen stood at the window talking very quietly to someone else. Axel attempted to listen in.
"He'll be along," Vexen's voice came to him. "I guarantee it."
"How can you be sure?"
"He has the other two with him. They'll no doubt want their friend back."
"And the setting once he's there?"
"I'll have it seen to. You know those there won't be real though."
"They don't need to be. As long as they can do what I need."
"Theoretically possible, but for people like you, hard to say."
"Get me in then. I'll lead personally."
"And what will you do when Sora discovers you're not just someone's memory?"
"What if he does? Leave him to me, Vexen. You worry too much."
"Someone has to."
"Just how do you plan to set the scene, Vexen? These 'memories' you're going to be using don't exist."
"Don't be so sure. I know someone who can provide what I need."
"I hope you're..." the second, unrecognised voice trailed off. Axel closed the door silently, but continued to listen.
"What?"
"There's someone else here."
"It's just Zexion. I told you he'd be here."
"No. There's a third person here."
"You?"
"Don't be absurd."
"You'd better go then, before whoever it is hears you."
There was no sound, no sense that the unknown person had gone, but there was no further discussion. Axel continued on, letting himself into Zexion's room and cautiously shaking him lightly awake. He wasn't certain how Zexion would take being woken.
"It's the middle of the night," he murmured irritably, still half asleep. "What do you want?"
"I had a word with Sora," Axel replied, keeping quiet himself. "There's a problem with the offer you made him."
"Couldn't it wait until morning?"
"I thought you'd want to know."
"What then?"
"I dug up some old records about what we did to become Nobodies. We didn't exactly lose our Hearts, and so far everything indicated that it's irreversible."
"You woke me up for that?"
"There's more. Roxas has begun to grow his own Heart. He thinks he might be able to find a way for the three of us to grow new ones if he can figure out how it happened to him."
"Fascinating. Do you suppose you could go away now? I'm trying to sleep here."
"Just one more thing. Rox doesn't trust Vexen, but he does trust you, and you know a lot about Hearts. He wants to ask for your help."
"Tell him to stop by in the morning then," Zexion replied, pulling the covers over his head. "Now go away."
Axel left him, and thought before leaving the mansion. Instead of going directly back to the Arcology, he returned to Vexen's room. He was doing a rather poor impression of someone sleeping.
"Are you awake?" Axel murmured to him, putting one hand to his shoulder. With any luck, Vexen wouldn't notice the tracker tag he'd just attached to it.
"I was," he answered, sounding a little too awake to be convincing. "What are you doing here?"
"Passing on a message. Sora's looking for you."
"Me? What for?"
"He didn't say. He'd been talking with Rue, Sand and Seifer just before he told me to find you."
In the darkness, Vexen looked troubled. Axel's eyes had adjusted to the low light however, and he could tell what Vexen didn't think he could.
"Tell him I'll stop by when I get the chance."
"I'll pass it on. Don't take too long though. Last time I saw him, he'd managed to clear his desk, and if he doesn't have any work to do, he might decide to come looking for you himself."
"A clear desk? Are you sure you were in Sora's office?"
"Unlikely as it sounds, I'm certain. I've got to get back though. You know where to find me."
"Naturally. Floor 20, Sora's Arcology. If you're working, in the gardens. Why there?"
"Roxas did his work there, and he did it because Sora did. It's grown to be a habit. I'll leave you to pretend to sleep," he added, leaving.