Chapter 52

(Eating Worms)

Morning light shining through the window woke him, and Sora sat up slowly, feeling much better today than he'd been the day before. After stretching his arms above his head with a jaw-cracking yawn, he looked over at the other two beds in the loft, finding that Merlin was still asleep, but Leon's bed was empty and made. Wondering where the man had gone, Sora pushed the blankets off, then paused as he looked towards the night stand.

'The book is gone!' Getting to his feet, he hunted around, looking under the bed, in his packs, in the drawers of the night stand, in the blankets but the book was nowhere to be found. Horror at the idea of the Heartless having the book, Sora hurried to pull his shoes on and buckled on his side-packs, forgetting to remake the bed after he'd torn it apart and hurried down the stairs in a blind panic. 'What am I gonna do? How am I going to figure out where they took the book? Leon- maybe he knows something?'

Pausing at the foot of the stairs and looking around, Sora found his companions scattered in makeshift futons across the floor. Khimari's ear twitched, and Sora feared that he'd woken the creature, however, when the Rhonso didn't move otherwise, Sora was reassured that the big blue beast was still asleep. However, his quick scan of the room also revealed that Leon was not there.

Carefully stepping over Donald on his way to the door, Sora opened the latch carefully and stepped out into the light of the dawn and just as carefully closed the door behind him.

"You're up early."

Yelping, Sora spun around to look at Leon, who was leaning against the wall beside the door. Frowning, Sora straightened, "Yeah," he admitted, "Leon- uh. There was a book on the stand beside my bed – well, it should have been there, have you seen it?"

Leon paused briefly, then asked, "What is it?"

"It's a book! It's got a green cover-"

Lifting a hand and cutting Sora off, the older man stated, "That wasn't what I meant. What is it?"

Pressing his lips together, Sora sighed, "It's something important."

"Don't give me that evasive garbage," Squall stated.

"It's Aros's journal," Sora finally admitted.

Eyes falling half lidded, Squall folded his arms, pushing off the wall to stand squarely in front of Sora. The effect was impressive and Sora almost caved, but instead, he lifted his chin, "What's in it isn't your business," he said firmly. "Have you seen the book? I need it back."

"Why?"

It really was such a simple question, but it drove Sora to the brink of madness and he gripped his hair in a frustrated growl and stomp, "Because I do!" Sora snapped back. "Quit being a prick and just tell me if you know where it is!"

Turning away, Squall instead stated, "I need your help. Something's wrong with Tron. He's not responding."

Levering a finger at Leon, Sora snapped, "Don't you change the subject. You took it, didn't you?"

For a second, Squall stood where he was, back to Sora, then finally, he drew in a breath and stated, "It was in code, I took it to Tron to see if he could decode it. Something happened though..."

Irritated, Sora stalked past Squall, heading down the road towards the bailey. Starting after him the elder brunet stated, "Look, just tell me what it is?"

"It's a Door into Aros's past, alright?" Sora grumbled, "You could have just asked me in the first place. And you've probably fried Tron's circuits trying to decode the thing, the content is locked."

Squall fell behind slightly, then lengthened his stride to catch up again.

Hurrying up the stairs, Sora leapt over the low wall and onto the walkway without bothering to go to the landing. Squall slowly fell further behind as he folded his arms, frowning slightly at Sora's back. In the meantime, Sora had gotten through the tower and taken the shorter way down to the ground by recklessly hopping off the ledge. Straightening from his slightly rough landing that had briefly made him dizzy, Sora shook his head and shoved a hand through his hair, looking up to see Squall leaning over the ledge above.

And where Sora had thought Squall was just going to use the stairs, he suddenly leapt, landing on the paving beside Sora in a crouch and stood casually. Snorting Sora couldn't help but break a smile, "Showing off, huh?"

With a slight smirk, Leon started onwards, leaving Sora to wonder. 'He's been acting a little odd lately,' the younger man couldn't help but notice.

"I used to be a hero too," Leon stated as he walked, Sora catching up to walk beside him, no longer angry about the book. Well, irritated that Leon had been such a prick but not really mad either. The situation could be fixed as long as the book hadn't gone missing completely or anything.

Turning his attention towards Squall, Sora asked, "Used to?"

"..." the elder brunet started to say, then closed his mouth.

"I think you're still a hero," the Keyblade Master insisted.

"Whatever."

Sighing, Sora shook his head, "You're too hard on yourself, you know that? Sometimes things just happen and you can't change the past. You just... have to get over it, I guess." Sora sighed, unable to really articulate what he wanted to say, probably because he wasn't too sure about the truth of what he was saying. After all, what about Aros's past? How did he explain that?

Squall, however, didn't reply. In fact, he kept his mouth firmly shut, lips set in a hard thin line as they headed up the hill to the castle. Silence fell between them then, which was fine, for Sora had other things that were niggling in the back of his mind that he really didn't want to think about and keeping his thoughts centered on Aros's diary was taking all his concentration. Squall, on the other hand, had that look Riku sometimes wore when he was thinking about the stupid mistakes he'd made in the past.

However, before Sora could think of something spontaneous to do to distract Squall from his depressive thoughts, they arrived at their destination. Stepping into the computer room, Sora found that everything was about the same as he'd last seen it - the laser portal thing was still on the right wall, the terminal and screen was on the left overlooking the generators and computer banks and cooling equipment in the room below. Following Squall over to the control panel, Sora folded his arms, watching as the taller and elder brunet typed out a few lines on the keyboard. Straightening, he shook his head, "I think you're going to have to go in."

"What? By myself?" Sora complained.

Turning to look at him, Leon frowned, "Don't think you can handle it on your own?" he asked.

Sora frowned, "I don't know what I'll be up against, I'd rather have backup," he insisted.

Amused, Leon chuckled, "Amazing, you do have common sense."

Frowning at him, Sora folded his arms, "I'm not stupid," he stated with a slight pout. "I'm currently at half power, too, what with Roxas running around," he sighed, "I hope he found Aros..."

"Roxas?" Squall asked, looking confused.

"My Nobody," Sora smiled as he explained, "we split off, he took half my heart. We thought that... well, since I'd promised to give Aros some space for a little, we decided that Roxas would try talking to him." Nodding to himself, Sora looked back towards Squall and cocked his head, "So, you coming with me?"

Sighing, Squall nodded, "Fine," he stated, then turned to type on the keyboard. Taking a stance in front of the transport laser thing, Sora stood ready even as he wondered what exactly in the world to call the thing used to transport them. Squall stepped up beside him as the end of the rod pointing towards them lit. Closing his eyes as the machine began to turn him into data, Sora waited for the unnerving feeling of being taken apart one 1 and 0 at a time for the passage into Tron's world.

When the feeling of being unraveled abated, Sora opened his eyes, finding himself standing in the download room with Squall beside him. Looking around, Sora called, "Tron?" despite the fact that he and Squall were the only ones in the room.

Squall frowned slightly and pointed out, "Not here." Obviously.

Nodding, Sora turned towards the door and walked up the incline towards it. "Let's go find him then."

"How... do you not feel like a complete moron in these outfits?"

Looking back at Squall who was clad in a white body-suit with blue glowing lines all over it, Sora grinned, "It's just data. You're lucky we're not naked!"

Putting a hand to his forehead, squall muttered, "just like him..." thankfully, Sora didn't hear that and was already heading through the door and into the hall beyond, which was just as empty as the room they'd just left. Taking a breath, Squall headed after Sora, having little choice otherwise.

Heading onwards, Sora led the way out to the chasm, "Tron!" he shouted at the top of his lungs, but the place was eerily silent. Stepping out after Sora, Squall automatically looked around. The light was decidedly blue and glowing, the floors and walls were made of a slate-blue metal-like substance with blue lines making strange glowing patterns across it. Here and there, though were strange patches of discoloration on the floors and walls that almost looked like rot with numbers and symbols flickering within. While that was unnerving enough, Squall decided that it was the sky that really bothered him about this place. There were three images of it, one blue, one red, and one green, all slightly offset from each other and flickering like a very bad image on a dying TV screen.

Standing still for a moment while Squall caught up, Sora looked around, thankful for the company even if he didn't say anything to the taller brunet man. "This is weird," he said instead. Turning, he headed left, down past the junk data room, which he peeked into briefly, "Not here..." he muttered, though the room was oddly cluttered. Filing that thought away, Sora headed on past, down the incline towards the platform that would take him to the cells.

Squall silently followed behind him, having nothing to say simply because he didn't know what should and shouldn't have been in this strange realm. Reaching the platform, Sora turned to look up at the older man, "Let's go down to the cells and see if he's there?" he suggested and stepped onto the platform after Squall shrugged.

"This is my first time here," he admitted, "You're in the lead." Although he did think it was a little odd to be the one following. He sighed softly.

"Squall," Sora stated as the platform began moving, gazing off into the distance. The younger man's voice jerked his companion out of his thoughts but before he could turn and state that his name was Leon, Sora continued, "Sure you messed up before, but running away from it by changing your name and refusing to allow yourself to feel anything won't make it better. You said you were a hero before, and I think you're still a hero, even if you think you let everyone down. Like Hercules when he forgot to finish off the Hydra. It was a mistake, but that doesn't make him no longer a hero." Sora turned to look up at Squall finally expression honest and open.

Pain lanced through Squall's heart and he looked away without speaking. Unfortunately, Sora was not going to let that slide and stepped around to peer up at Squall's face once more. "I'm not done yet," he stated, "Riku thought he'd screwed up too, and that no one could ever forgive him for giving into the darkness, but you know what? I forgave him, Kairi forgave him, and our opinions were always the ones that mattered most to him. So who's opinion matters to you, Squall?"

Lips pressed into a firm thin line, Squall didn't answer that question verbally, but Sora could tell that he had a few people in mind. Straightening, the Keyblade Master continued, "Do they hate you for what you couldn't prevent?" he asked, "Or do they look back at your past deeds and know you gave it your best and that you're trying to make up for what you think is your failure?" Squall's gaze dropped from Sora's intense stare, still unable to come up with anything to say.

The platform hissed and locked into it's dock on the other side of the chasm, but Sora remained where he was for a moment longer to finish what he'd been saying, "I think you're still a hero, Squall. ...I really admire you. You're a good fighter, but you're also a leader, the people of Radiant Garden really look up to you, you know? After all the problems of the past, this place really needs someone strong and confident in his abilities to protect them, and I think you're the perfect person for the job. So does Aerith, and Yuffie, and Merlin, and Cid. They all believe in you."

Lifting his eyes finally, Squall met Sora's gaze, lips pulling towards a faint smile, "...Thanks," he said finally and patted Sora's shoulder. "I'll...think on that."

Heading past the younger man, Squall stepped off the platform. With a grin, Sora turned and jogged to catch up, then lead the way to the cells. Unfortunately, they were empty, just as everything else thus far had been. Thumping his fists on his hips, Sora frowned, "Where IS Tron?" he demanded of the empty hall.

"Geeeet ooout."

Blinking, Sora turned to look over at Squall, "Did you say that?" he asked.

Squall shook his head.

"GET OoooU-T!" the voice shouted this time, pitch distorting from earsplitting high tones to a low undulating rumble that echoed through the halls.

"...Tron?" Sora called to the disembodied voice.

"YouUuu'rrEEerr inn dAAANnGerr Ssssssssssssoooooouurrraaaa!" the voice told him, "geeeet-t-t-t-t-t ouuut."

Shaking his head, Sora shouted back, "Tron! Where are you?" the voice, however, didn't answer.

Squall, however pointed ahead, "It sounded like it was coming from that direction," he stated and started off down the hall, heading back towards the chasm. Sora nodded, jogging along behind the taller brunet as Squall took the lead. Reaching the platform again, they stepped onto it and stumbled as it jerked into motion. "I think something's wrong," Squall commented, looking down at the platform as the blue began to discolor beneath their feet like rot spreading.

Looking down, Sora stepped back to the edge of the platform, trying to avoid stepping on the spreading rot. In the center, the color deepened to black and then opened, giving view of the chasm's floor far – far – below them, blackened bits of destroyed code dripping from the hole. Looking back over his shoulder, Sora frowned as he realized they were still halfway out over the chasm.

"...great," Squall muttered, looking back the way they'd come – much too far to jump, either way.

"Tron!" Sora shouted, "What's going on? Where are you?"

"Shhoouuurrreeeaaaaa..." the voice undulated, this time, sounding much closer... This time, sounding as if it were right beneath them.

Turning, Sora looked down into the chasm and gasped.

Lifting out of the depths, a sickly pale tentacle marked with red lines wrapped around the dock Sora and Squall had just left and heaving, the tentacle hoisted up a massive bloated body that looked like the bastard love-child between a mutant worm and a human. "Sheouurerrrraa – daaannng-g-g-g-errr..." the monstrous creature slurred, vocals glitching so much that Sora could barely understand what had been said.

That was when the monster turned its humanoid head on a rubbery worm-segmented neck and shoulders.

Tron stared at them blankly for a moment before speaking again, "Viiiiru-ru-ru-russs. Da-dangeerrr. Leeeaaaveee."

Squall straightened, looking from the mutating Tron to Sora, "That must have been what Yazoo uploaded, a virus. We should get out of here."

"We have to help him!" Sora insisted, nearly stepping forward into the rotting hole in the center of the platform before he stopped himself and glanced back towards the other side of the chasm they were suspended above. Thankfully, they were still moving, despite the damage to the platform.

Shaking his head, Squall replied, "His data's been corrupted. This whole place has been corrupted. There's nothing we can do from this end, we need to get out of here!"

Tears stinging his eyes, Sora shook his head, "No!"

"Sora!" Squall snapped, "We could get infected too," he pointed down at the platform they stood on just as it banged into the dock on the other side. Leaping across the whole in the center, Squall grabbed Sora around the shoulders and dragged him back. The shorter brunet flailed as he was hauled away, staring across the Chasm towards Tron who was gazing at them in return.

Suddenly, Tron stretched himself, reaching across the chasm with his tentacle arms. Looming at them the giant worm-Tron pulled itself onto the ledge. "Diee," it slurred, no longer wearing a coherent expression.

Releasing Sora, Squall drew his gunblade as the monster reached towards him with a tentacle arm. Slashing at the offending appendage, Squall backed up a step. "Sora!" he shouted at the Keyblade Master who had not drawn his weapon yet. "This isn't Tron anymore!"

Swallowing and looking down, Sora reluctantly drew his Ultimate sword, but didn't initiate an attack as Squall continued to back up. "Tron?" he called instead, looking up at the creature looming taller above them as it pulled more of it's elongated segmented body onto the ledge. How long was it, anyway, Sora had to wonder. However, his shouting only drew the monster's attention to him and lifting a tentacle, the Worm balled the end into a knot and swung it downwards.

Sora's eyes widened, "Tron-" he started to object, but got the breath knocked out of him as hands shoved him hard from behind. Rolling to his feet, Sora looked around, finding Squall too far away to have been the one to shove him.

Boots clacking on the metal plating, she landed beside him, long blonde hair floating around her white clad figure, although her dress and boots now had thin glowing blue lines decorating it and her hair looked white in this light. "Umi!" Sora gasped.

Turning to look at him, she frowned, "Idiot," as if that were his name, "Find the book and get out of here. I'll hold it off till you do."

"How are you here though?" Sora had to ask as the Worm stared down at the three of them in confusion.

"The book was uploaded. Find the book, Sora!" Umi insisted.

Pressing his lips together, looking from her to Tron and back, he finally nodded reluctantly and turned, running past Squall who turned and headed after him. The Worm let out a warbling screech that glitched and repeated several times, then lunched forward, balling both its tentacle-like appendages in an effort to crush the fleeing humans.

Umi launched into the air, landing on one of those reaching tentacles and ran along its length to the Worm's face, where she swung a hard kick into the virus's six-foot tall face. The Worm screamed again and drew back, trying to catch Umi as she leapt away, landing on its head briefly before back flipping off to land on the ground in a crouch.

Reluctantly leaving her behind, Sora tried not to look back. He had to find the book, before it got infected too. Squall was right about that much. All around them, the world had started blackening and dripping, bits of code showing through as it was rotted from the inside. "Where would the book be?" Sora gasped as he realized the slight flaw to this plan, which was his lack of information. Unfortunately, he couldn't go back and ask Umi, she was a bit busy at the moment. Pausing as he passed the room of junk data, Sora looked towards it, then shook his head, "No... not there." How he knew that, he wasn't sure.

"Who is that girl?" Squall asked.

"Aros's guardian," Sora replied absently, placing a hand on his chest as he panned his eyes across the scenery. When he spotted the beam of light from the central hub in the distance, Sora pointed, "It's there," and started running towards the sail dock, leaving a frustrated Squall to fall in behind him again.

With the sounds of Umi and the Worm's battle still rattling the walls, Sora reached the dock and hopped onto the sail, heading towards the controls for the ship as Squall stepped onto it. "We really should hurry," the taller brunet man pointed out.

"I know!" Sora snapped, then sighed, looking towards Squall, "But that book is important. It's got Aros's memories in it."

Confused, Squall fell silent and watched as Sora started the sail running, a torn expression on the young man's face.


Umi rolled to her feet again, her movements becoming slower as the shield she'd put on the book drained her energy. 'Hurry, Sora!' she begged of him silently as she stared up at the worm. She'd never fought anything like this before. The Tron-Worm was certainly a difficult opponent, but so far, she'd managed to distract it from going after Sora and the other man.

'He looks just like Sora... I wonder if that's our elder brother, Squall?' she thought as the Tron-Worm paused in its attack briefly. At least there was still enough of Tron left in it to fight on her side, slowing the Worm's movements and attacks just enough for her to dodge. Unfortunately, she'd nearly fallen off the ledge four times already, been thrown across the ledge twice, and nearly smashed numerous times. Wiping her mouth with the edge of her glove, Umi licked at the blood welling from her lip.

"s..s.soooorrrraaa?" the Tron-Worm glitched at her, she wasn't quite sure what he was trying to ask her, and it hardly mattered, for he balled a tentacle once more and swung it at her.

Leaping upwards, she let the tentacle fist go beneath her but was caught by his other tentacle as it wrapped around her and squeezed. Desperately, Umi kicked and wiggled, trying to free herself from his grasp, but that effort proved useless. Lifting her arms, she slammed the spikes on the backs of her bracers into the Worm's flesh. Wailing in pain and fury, the Worm drew back, slinging her out over the ledge and into the chasm.

Coughing hard, it took Umi a moment to realize why she'd not hit ground yet, but when she looked around, she cursed under her breath and drew upon what little of her power remained, opening a portal beneath her, which she splashed into, leaving the Tron-Worm confused as it stared down at where she'd been seconds ago.


Stepping off the sail, Sora jogged across the walkway towards the gap that led into the central data stream, Squall only a step behind him. At least there was a terminal here they could use to get out once they'd gotten what they needed. Reassured by that thought, Squall continued following Sora as they stepped into a large circular room with a glowing pillar in the center.

Stumbling to a stop, Sora gasped, "The Central Data Stream is corrupted too!" he pointed in dismay at the rotting black color that was flowing up through the stream, feeding into the rest of Tron's world.

"It's spreading," Squall pointed out as well, looking around at the rotting scenery. He wasn't too happy with this development either, considering that Tron's world was Ansem's computer, which also happened to be the system that was running the town's defense network, which was also connected to Cid's computer in Merlin's house, which mean that all of Cid's work was going to be trashed pretty soon. "We need to hurry up and get out of here," he pointed out. "Where's the book?"

Pulled back to the mission at hand, Sora looked around, following the tug on his heart around the room to the other side of the pillar where he found the book, glowing faintly where it sat on the floor in danger of falling through one of the rotting holes into the nothingness below. Hurrying over, Sora snatched up the book and dashed back around to rejoin Squall – just as the central data stream undulated in an abnormal wave.

Beside him, the air appeared to turn to liquid and Umi stumbled out, landing against Sora's shoulder as her portal re-solidified and closed. "Umi," Sora said, freeing a hand to support her. "Are you alright? What happened to Tron?"

"It's coming," Squall stated, answering Sora's question as the central data stream undulated again, contracted, and a pair of writhing tentacles lifted up out of the center of the pit.

Looking from the book to Umi, Sora pushed the book into her hands, "We can handle this, Umi," he told her and she looked up at him with wide ocean-blue eyes. "Take this outside to the terminal." Looking to Squall, Sora continued, "If we kill the virus then the infection should stop spreading, right?"

"I don't know if just killing this thing will work," Squall replied, then sighed, "whatever."

Staring at Sora for a second, Umi suddenly stood on her toes and placed a kiss on his cheek before gathering the book against her chest and staggering away.

Determined to at least put Tron out of his misery, Sora drew his Keyblade and fell into a stance as the Worm lifted its six-foot-tall head out of the pit, tentacles flailing and curling into strange knots. "I'm sorry, Tron," Sora shouted.

"...K-k-killllll mmeeee," Tron wailed, apparently understanding what Sora was apologizing for. Then the Worm struck, slamming its tentacles down on the floor in a random pattern as Sora and Squall instinctively dodged. Rolling aside, Sora pulled to his feet again as one of the Worm's balled tentacles hit the plating next to him. Turning, Sora slashed with his Keyblade, adding a deep gouge to the wounds already present there.

Shrieking the Worm flailed in pain, and taking advantage of it's distraction, Squall dashed in and leapt up to slice open a gash across the Worm's chest.

Writing dangerously now, the Worm drew back into the central data stream, holding itself out of reach of their blades for a moment before it stretched its tentacles forward and began trying to crush Sora and Squall once again. Rolling and diving, Sora barely managed to avoid getting hit or falling into one of the rotting holes in the floor. Finally managing to get to his feet, he hacked at the tentacle again, making a matching bloody slice near where he'd left the first.

In fury driven by pain, the Worm swung its other tentacle over before Squall could make a move and caught Sora, slinging him across the room to hit the far wall with a hard crash. Falling to the floor, Sora lay where he was for a long moment, staring groggily at nothing. Worried, Squall started to try and make his way across the room, but the Worm turned its full attention to him and he was forced to defend himself.

Leaping back, he dodged one sweep of a tentacle, then got knocked flat by a sweep from the other direction. Rolling to his feet quickly, Squall turned and slashed at the nearest tentacle, finishing Sora's work on it and severing the end off. The ear-piercing wail that resulted from the unexpected amputation had Squall on his knees and helpless as the worm grabbed him and threw him hard against the wall.

"Hyah!" Sora shouted as he stabbed his Keyblade into the worm's unprotected shoulder as it leaned close enough for the slightly recovered young man to attack. Turning, the worm backhanded Sora across the room again, but he landed on the floor and rolled to his feet, calling his Keyblade back to his hand.

Clenching his left fist, Sora took a breath and called upon the power of the bracer on his left arm. In a flash, it turned into the long spike he'd learned to make the night before, and with another shout, he ran back in slashing at that unprotected shoulder again as the Worm turned to grab Squall by the leg. Dropping the gunblade wielder on the floor again, the Worm turned back to Sora flailing the bleeding stump uselessly at him while the other mostly whole tentacle was more of a threat. Dodging away from the balled tentacle that slammed onto the decking where he'd been standing, Sora got to his feet again to turn on that appendage as it started to lift upwards again, slicing with his Keyblade and stabbing through the offending limb with his spike.

Again, the Worm shrieked in pain, but shaking its tentacle did not dislodge Sora who found that his spike had stuck and would not come out. Taking advantage of the Worm's distraction, Squall staggered to his feet and dashed over to snatch up his fallen gunblade which he turned and shot at the Worm's face, rocking its head back several times. With a furious expression, the Worm swung the tentacle Sora was still stuck to at Squall, only to have the gunblade master leap over it and land on the appendage. Running up it's length, Squall delivered a matching slice across the Worm's chest, then leapt away as the Worm tried to bat at him with the stub of it's other tentacle. Landing in a crouch Squall dodged aside as the Worm finally managed to dislodge Sora by flinging him away, although the effort split the end of the worm's tentacle in two independently writhing halves that really weren't as useful as they might have been if they'd not been so painful.

The tentacle curled around its wound, and in fury, the Worm leaned forward to put more effort into trying to smash the bugs that were attacking it, but with only one tentacle to use, the effort only proved fatal. As it concentrated on trying to beat Sora into a pulp, Squall dashed in under the stub of the other tentacle and leapt up, stabbing his gunblade into the Worm's chest, nearly to the hilt.

Shrieking, the Worm flailed and drew back and Squall braced his feet against the Worm's chest and shoved, doing a back flip to land on the decking beside Sora as the younger man lifted his Keyblade, aiming a shot of light at Tron, hoping that by using the power of the Keyblade, they could save the poor program.

In a flash, light engulfed the worm, but when it cleared and Sora's vision recovered, he found that the room was still rotted, but at least the Worm was gone. "...Tron..." Sora whispered softly, the spike on his left arm retracting and becoming a simple bracer once more.

Looking towards him, Squall shook his head, then turned, "We need to get out of here. Now, Sora," he stated and started limping towards the exit. With one last look towards the central data stream, Sora regretfully turned, heading after Squall. He would have assisted the other man if he weren't limping as well.

In the doorway, Umi was standing silently, staring at them with the book clutched against her chest. As he approached, she held it out to him. "Don't lose it again, idiot," she stated coldly, then stepped back into a portal that looked like reality had turned to water briefly and she was gone.

Sighing, Sora shook his head, heading over to the terminal to type in the command that would transport himself and Squall from the world of Data. Again, he closed his eyes as he felt his body being unraveled into 1's and 0's, transported across space, and reassembled in the computer room in Ansem's castle. Opening his eyes again as the data transfer was completed, Sora looked around, finding Squall standing beside him, slightly bloodied and looking worse for the wear, and Aerith, Goofy, and Donald standing by the computer.

"Sora!" Goofy gasped and dashed forward, grabbing Sora into a tight embrace.

Eyes widening in pain, Sora gasped, "G-Goof, not so hard!" he wheezed and staggered when Goofy let him go abruptly. Sitting down on the floor, Sora shook his head and looked down at the book in his lap. It didn't look any worse for wear at least.

"Where've you been?" Donald demanded to know, "What happened? Why didn't you wake ush up?"

Shaking his head, Sora sighed as he slid the book into his side-pack. "Sorry... Tron... Tron got infected with a virus. We...had to..." he fell silent, unable to finish that sentence.

Squall turned, limping towards the computer terminal as Aerith approached him. "Gone and undone all my hard work, I see," she sighed, folding her arms.

"...sorry," Squall muttered, making the woman in pink pause in shock. "I might be able to restore a version of Tron, but with the system corrupted as much as it is, I don't know if that would be the best of ideas."

"Gawrsh!" Goofy said, turning to approach Squall and look down at the computer screen, "What else is there to do, though?"

"Wipe the system and start over," Squall replied which made Goofy and Donald gasp in horror. Sora was shocked as well, but didn't have the energy to do more than stare at Squall.

Biting his lower lip, he climbed to his feet. "I'm gonna head back to Merlin's..." he told them, but no one was listening except Aerith who gave him a nod.

Turning and heading out of the computer room, Sora headed through Ansem's office and from there, through the warren of halls and out to the balcony that overlooked the craggy landscape around the castle and town of Radiant Garden. Not that much of it was visible.

"...Were we in there that long?" he asked, looking out across the night-dark sky studded with pinpricks of light. Other worlds... So many other worlds.

'I can't save them all, either,' Sora realized adding more weight to his guilt over being unable to help Tron. Limping over to the low wall that edged the balcony, Sora climbed onto it and sat, legs hanging out over the drop-off. 'Am –I- worthy of being called a hero?' he had to wonder, 'Or am I still just a junior hero?'

"Or am I just a moron?" Sora asked out loud, pulling a knee up to his chest and wrapping his arms around it as all the things he'd tried to not think about came rushing back to him at the worst possible time. "Should I even be involved in trying to help Aros? Why am I involved, anyway? Other than the fact that he looks like me..."

"Are you sure you want to do this? It might stir up memories you've locked deep within your own heart..." Umi's voice echoed back at him from his memories.

"What did she mean?" he wondered out loud. Sighing as loneliness gripped his heart and he slumped, leaning against his raised knee, his other foot still dangling over the ledge. He'd never noticed how much he liked having a constant companion, it was like Roxas was fulfilling some longing he'd never noticed he'd had till now. But Roxas wasn't the one he wanted to talk to.

Pushing those thoughts aside, Sora returned to the previous topic, "Memories... my memories. Why is it that I've got so much power over what other people remember?" he had to ask. "And yet, I've got gaping holes in my own head that I didn't even realize were there."

Taking Laguna for instance - it was odd how until Squall had mentioned it, Sora hadn't realized that Laguna was really the missing President Loire. It wasn't like Laguna had hidden it. But Sora's only thought upon seeing the man for the first time in person was... that he looked kinda familiar.

Now that Leon had spoken Laguna's last name, the memories had snapped back into place. All those Esthar history courses he'd had to take in school that had been a complete haze had come back with disturbing clarity in an instant that left Sora nearly breathless and glad for Yuffie's distractions.

So Laguna, the mage, was the president of the country that had banned magic... Esthar; the country that Destiny Islands were part of, the country that Sora's mother, Ellone, was now president of due to inheriting the position from her missing husband.

...Therefore.

Sora swallowed, pulling his knee against his chest, "God... How stupid could I possibly be?" he muttered, "It's not like I've not seen him in textbooks! It's not like I don't have a picture of him and mom in my dresser at home!" Not that he'd looked at the thing in years.

His complete blank on the issue, even after meeting the man was so embarrassing! And terrifying. "What else have I completely forgotten?" he had to ask.

Lifting his face slightly, Sora set his chin on his knee and sighed, thumping the heel of his other foot against the stone beneath him. "Maybe that's why Squall was laughing... I'm such an idiot."

"Maybe. And maybe there's something more to it than that."

Sitting up with a start, Sora turned partially to look back at Leon as he strode through the moonlight towards him. "Figured I'd find you up here," the brunet stated, "I set the others to hunting down data disks in Ansem's study, but Donald and Goofy are going to notice you're gone pretty soon."

Blushing, Sora looked away, then recalled what Squall had said, "What did you mean... when you said there's something more to it?"

Folding his arms as he came to a stop beside Sora, Squall stated, "The power to affect memories is in your blood. If you want to find out what else you've Forgotten, you're going to have to break the bonds she placed on you on your own."

Shifting, Sora turned partially to look up at Squall, his heart pounding hard in his chest. "Forgotten..." he whispered, eyes wide, "Namine wouldn't have..."

Squall just shook his head, "That's all I'm going to say about it," he stated and started off. "You'll wise up eventually... I did."

Pouting slightly, Sora stared after Squall as the man headed back the way he'd just come, leaving the young man to his own thoughts. Resting his chin on his knee again, Sora pursed his lips in thought, since Squall had so nicely given him that little bit of reassurance that his forgetfulness wasn't entirely due to his own stupidity.

"Does that mean..." he stopped there as the light came on in his head, "That must mean my forgetting my sister wasn't my fault either. ...Someone made me forget. But who?" That right there was the real stumper. Who else could possibly have that sort of power over him – other than Namine, but she'd promised she'd never touch his memories again.

"I got to know you perhaps a little better than I wanted to," she'd told him through Kairi's mouth. "Don't worry, I won't tell her EVERYTHING." And though she'd promised that, Sora was still worried about what she would choose to tell Kairi.

Taking a breath, Sora sighed, staring out across the barren landscape beyond the walls of the town, frowning slightly.

'Then again... Laguna didn't seem the least bit disturbed by the fact that I didn't seem to know who he was. In fact, he introduced himself to me, and if he'd expected me to remember him, he wouldn't have.' Well, he thought anyway. With that resolved in his mind, Sora sighed in relief. "So... next time I see him, I'll surprise him," the brunet decided and turned his thoughts to other topics... like what else he'd forgotten.

"Sora, Sora, Sora," Her voice echoed in his mind.

Closing his eyes, Sora squeezed them shut as he recalled the end of his dream where the girl in his dream had turned into Aros.

"That pendant..." he whispered, "Aros has one, Umi has one... That girl from my dream kept turning into Umi in my dream."

Reaching for the pendant at his own throat, Sora clenched his fingers over the sharp prongs, hoping that the pain would make him remember something.

Then it hit him. Kaiyou knew Umi too!

"...You can't be sad. That's my job. And Umi's job is to be obnoxious and sarcastic and warn me not to do things because I might get hurt..." Yes, that's what she'd said.

What was the connection between the three – Umi, Aros, and Kaiyou?

"Shora?"

Jogged from his thoughts, Sora sat up and looked back at Donald. "Shora, what'sh wrong?" the duck asked as he approached.

Pausing before he just said, "nothing," Sora thought quickly and replied with something closer to the truth, "I... just needed a bit of time to think. I'll be alright," he said and managed to smile. Turning, he placed his feet on the ground and stood, "Let's get back inside and look for those disks Squall wanted." With that, he limped past Donald, heading back inside, leaving the duck to stare after him with a worried expression.


AN: So very sorry for the wait lately. I think I'm gonna take a break on writing for a bit and reread the story, there's things I've forgotten that need re-tying in. I also think I've lost track of Kaiyou's character again, so yeah. I'm thinking this might take a week or so, and then I'll get back to writing, and hopefully it will better quality work than what I've been turning out lately.

Next Chapter: Something involving Demyx.