Holy crap, I honestly did not mean for this chapter to get as long as it did. And I was originally going to include the rest of Twilight Town after Sora's "zomg kairi wutwutwut :DDD" moment, but when I saw what a freaking monster this thing was already... -sweatdrop- Yeah. I know you guys are used to (and probably enjoy) long chappies from me, but all the same, I hate when they get this long.

U-uh... in other news... Merry Christmas, bitches! :D

Disclaimer- If I owned Kingdom Hearts, I would have found Sora wrapped in wrapping paper under my tree this morning.
Riku: 0__o Okay... bad image...


The day after the paint incident, Falcon spots Copperhead in the hallway on her way out of art class. For a moment she almost doesn't want to meet his violet eyes, but, as she gets a better look at what's going on, she realizes she doesn't have to. The sight fills her with a mixture of sadness, anger, and disappointment: Copperhead is even now flicking his sleek blond hair out of his eyes and giving one of the girls surrounding him a charismatic grin. What kind of compliment is he giving her - giving all of them? Falcon wonders dully, watching the girl blush and giggle at her friends.

Then she freezes in place as his head swings toward her. His eyes lock on hers for a few heart-pounding seconds, then he looks back at his fan mob and opens his mouth to say something else; the playful, teasing expression from before has vanished.

But Falcon doesn't see this, as she takes that moment to sweep out of the entrance to the art room and leave in the opposite direction.

"Fal, wait!"

The term of endearment - that, it seems, he's just made up for her - causes Falcon to stop in her tracks. Inwardly, she curses; she was planning on leaving school without him noticing. Out of the corner of her eye she catches sight of the ferns surrounding the sidewalk leading up to the school doors swaying in the light breeze.

She lets out an irritated breath through her nose as the pounding footsteps halt directly behind her. "Hey," Copperhead says a little breathlessly. Falcon chances turning around and sees him smile almost apologetically. "You wanna go take out some Heartless or something?"

"I have homework," she replies, more coldly than she had intended. It takes all the force of will she has to turn away and resume her path down the sidewalk, fingering the dagger-shaped charm on the end of the Azure Ice's Keychain and taking comfort from its solid smoothness. "Besides, I'd think you wouldn't be free today. Since you were getting along so well with that girl and all."

"Oh, gods, Fal," Copperhead huffs out a sigh. Falcon's stride falters just a bit at the exasperation in his tone. "That girl was boring the hell out of me and we both know it. I was actually just about to leave when you came by."

"Didn't look like it to me," Falcon snorts, despite the voice in her mind that is agreeing with him. "Why do you tolerate all of them, anyway?"

"Eh, I'm just a big sucker." For some reason, she can imagine him shrugging as he said that, even though she can't see him. "Besides, didn't I tell you? Flattery's nice."

Like you need confirmation that you're hot, you pompous jerk, Falcon thinks, and immediately wants to take it back. Bad Fal, she admonishes herself. Bad.

"If you think about it..." The abrupt husky tone in his voice makes her halt immediately, so great is her surprise. If she didn't know any better, she would actually say Copperhead Sandgale was hitting on her. His next comment only confirms her suspicions, even as she makes the mistake of turning around and finds herself nose to nose with him, his purple eyes staring unflinchingly, almost tauntingly into hers.

"The only way those girls would go away," Copperhead whispers, smirking at how he's caught her off guard, "is if I established that I already have a girlfriend."

Why is she breathing so hard? Stop, you idiot, stop, Falcon's senses plead, but she's deaf to them. That coffee scent has become her air, and she can't stop breathing it in, trite as it sounds. His touch is undeniably gentle as he reaches up and lets his thumb stroke the side of her face, and she holds her breath, more nervous - excited? - than ever. Right then, she realizes, in a surge of panic, that she needs to make a decision as to whether or not to lean away or in. The latter doesn't sound too bad, actually.

But the instant she completes that thought, Copperhead jumps back, a look of wonder having replaced the teasing expression on his face. "Hey, I just felt something cold!" he exclaims, and tilts his head back to look at the cloudy skies. Dumbly, disappointed, almost infuriated, Falcon copies his gesture. Sure enough, she feels an unmistakable snowflake land on her face. Normally she loves the first snowfall, but now she just wants to howl her disappointment to the skies.

Copperhead looks back down on her, seemingly totally oblivious to her emotions, and grins breathlessly. "Sorry, but I have to cancel the Heartless genocide for today," he says excitedly, even as more snow falls around them. "Dyme and I have a little tradition we enjoy on the first day of snow, and tradition calls." He waves flippantly at her as he bounces off. "See ya tomorrow!"

Falcon stares numbly after him. After a moment, seven words formed from her lips.

"You should have kissed me, you idiot..."


A week later, she gets her wish.

And admittedly it's not exactly the situation she envisioned: they're standing in front of a ranch's fence; Copperhead asks her moronically if he's her cow - she remembers thinking honestly, Copperhead, you're supposedly such a smooth operator and that's the only pick-up line you can come up with? - the cold makes them both shake nervously; Falcon is seized by a desperate curiosity as to whether or not she's doing it right -

But even though it's not the romantic situation she would have rather had, Falcon knows she wouldn't have it any other way.


"So, word on the grapevine is that Copperhead finally stopped being stupid long enough to confess his feelings."

Falcon blinks at Dyme as she stands, bundled up in the same purple scarf she had worn that fateful day and the thickest jacket she owns, in the threshold of Copperhead and his brother's house. Strange as Dyme is, he's never greeted her with this before.

"Uh, yeah," she says intelligently in response. Dyme looks like his face is going to split open, he's grinning so widely. "Um, may I come in?" she asks at last, shivering violently as a fresh gust of snowy wind from outside threatens to push her off her feet.

"Oh, yeah, of course!" Dyme hastily steps aside and allows her to enter the house. She rubs her arms in an attempt to get warm and begins unwinding her scarf from around her neck. Dyme, still grinning like an idiot, begins scraping the snow off the doormat with his feet, only to stop and look at her, his smile fading completely.

"You know," he says abruptly, causing her to halt her movements and meet his gaze, "Copperhead acts like a little womanizer half the time, but honestly, you're the first girlfriend he's ever had." His face is totally serious as he speaks, which is an oddity in and of itself, but Falcon is too preoccupied with what he's just said.

"Really?" she gapes, nearly dropping the scarf in shock.

Dyme nods. "Yeah. I remember first grade, when he came home and immediately started yakking on and on about 'this stupid new girl.'" His former grin returns with a vengeance and he shrugs nonchalantly. "I knew right then and there it was love."

Falcon doesn't know if this is exactly her idea of love. Suddenly a thought strikes her and she speaks, however hesitantly. "So... it's okay if I go out with your brother?"

"Are you kidding?" Dyme exclaims, and Falcon winces, bracing herself for a rude remark. But he continues, his smile wider than ever. "I rooted for you guys ever since then!" He lowers his voice conspiratorially, his green eyes flicking toward Copperhead, who is coming down the stairs. "Just know that you should never let him make out with you on the first date. That's a sure sign he's just trying to get into your pants."

"Dyme!" Copperhead groans, pushing his brother's shoulder. Falcon tries to stifle her giggle, but it escapes nonetheless.

"Not like you've done that or anything, right?" Dyme laughs shamelessly. Copperhead just groans again and whaps him on the back. The show of brotherly affection, while confounding her - she's never understood why boys showed their friendship by hitting each other - makes her laugh even harder.

And for the first time since the Heartless appeared in the Shadowed Desert, Falcon feels almost content.


The curtain of rain falling heavily around her nearly blocks out Falcon's vision, but she still spots the bedraggled, hunched shape hovered over the gravestone. Squinting her eyes to see through the heavy deluge, Falcon sloshes through the mud toward that shape.

Copperhead's normally-glossy hair is matted to his back by the spring storm, and the clean black suit she had helped him pick out to wear to the funeral is ruined. So much munny down the drain, just like that. But she's not worried about the suit. She's more worried about the man wearing the suit.

Falcon comes to a stop next to Copperhead. He hasn't taken his eyes off the writing on the grave, still legible even through the rain; she doubts he's even noticed her approach. His entire face is veiled in shadow that, she knows, isn't just because of the darkness created by the storm.

The rest of the mourners have left long ago, including Falcon's parents, but she alone remains. She knows Copperhead probably doesn't want her there, but she doesn't care. He may not want her, but he does need her now.

Together they stare down at the writing on the gravestone.

"HERE LIES DYME SANDGALE - CLOSE FRIEND, FOSTER FATHER, LOVING BROTHER."

"You know," Copperhead speaks abruptly, causing Falcon to turn to him, "they couldn't even find a body." His fist clenches, and his voice, barely audible above the sound of the downpour, is taut with grief and anger. "He just... vanished, after the Heartless took his heart. Like it just ate him. And I just watched it happen."

"You couldn't have done anything," Falcon tries to reassure him, and knows instantly that it's the wrong thing to say.

Copperhead whirls to face her, his dark blond hair dripping around the violet fire in his eyes. "You don't know that!" he snarled. As if in response to his flaring temper, thunder crashes and lightning lights up his face; Falcon winces at the desperate grief contorting his features. "I could've gotten my scythe and ripped the Heartless to bits," he continues, his voice rising to a shout that's louder now even than the storm around them. "I could've pushed him out of the way and let it take me instead, or - or - something! I could've..." He gropes for words, and he sounds like he's speaking around a large lump in his throat. "I could've..."

Wordlessly, Falcon opens her arms, just in time for him to fall forward into them. The storm rages around them, just two mourning teenagers standing in front of a grave.


It almost felt like the whole thing hadn't been a dream at all, since the rain was still pounding around Anxclof as she came awake. She blinked blearily and raised her head to look around. The bright lights of the vacant shops of the World That Never Was greeted her eyes, causing her to squint even more.

Even now, Anxclof wasn't sure what, for the life of her, had possessed her when she had felt the impulse to leave the Pride Lands immediately after her talk with Roxas. Even more so, she wasn't sure why she had chosen to come here, of all places, when she knew what would happen if one of the other Organization members found her here. Past acquaintances or no, the penalty for deserters was death, and if she possessed the bad fortune for Xemnas to come waltzing by at that very moment, then she would undoubtedly be rendered lightsaber fodder on the spot.

Thankfully, though, all of the Organization members had to have left for other worlds at the moment; at least the remains of Anxclof's existence testified to that. The Blade of Vengeance uncurled very slightly, wincing at the stiffness of her limbs as she unwound from the ball she had slept in; though she did notice that she had woken up in a different position from the one in which she had fallen asleep. Maybe the dream had made her toss and turn, its emotional weight tugging her along; but, thankfully, she remained under the awning she had chosen as her shelter from the rain, so her clothes weren't totally soaked. The moisture on her jacket and pants had only come from the spray created by the rain pounding on the ground around her.

Anxclof's mind returned to the dream, and she wanted to cry aloud at the sudden grief she felt. Memories of what Falcon felt, the Nobody told herself wearily, that's all it is.

She was starting to get sick of just thinking of her emotions as merely mental vestiges of life.

Maybe this was why Xemnas and the other Nobodies, who had lost their hearts before Anxclof had, existed with such a dark aura about them: the thought of not having what they once had possessed any longer, and coveting what they had lost, was enough to make even the generally carefree Axel disconsolate at times.

Anxclof shook that thought out of her mind and refocused on the dream. Then she frowned; they weren't even dreams in the truest sense, because while the memories lurking in her subconscious did spawn these recollections, dreams never were as harshly real as these... what were they, anyway? Flashbacks of her true life?

"It'll work," she muttered under her breath.

Having gotten that little internal conflict out of the way - for the time being, at least - she considered the chain of flashbacks, particularly the last one. Oddly she felt like she recognized Dyme from somewhere else: not just because Falcon had known him, but from somewhere else, within Anxclof's own half-existence. At least that's something I can call my own, she thought, and if she had been speaking, she would have heard a bitter undercurrent in her words.

She drew her knees up against her chest and folded her arms on top of them, staring out into the storm. Despite herself, she shivered in a way that had nothing to do with the icy wind that always seemed to blow in the World That Never Was. For some reason, she had to remind herself that this was the real world, she had left the landscape of her dreams behind her the instant her eyes had opened - yet the sight of the rain pouring down in an endless curtain, lit preternaturally by the lights of the "shops," resurrected the memory of Falcon and Copperhead standing around Dyme's grave and refused to let it leave.

Unfortunately, the only memory that pervaded her thoughts once she pushed the image of that girl and that boy away, the only thing she could even consider once she stopped thinking about her Other and her best friend, was the look on Roxas' face as Anxclof had coldly, detachedly, pushed the image of them together again aside and left him standing there.

Anxclof shook her head in silent protest. He would have been put back into Sora's heart again as soon as that duck had waved his wand, anyway, she argued mentally, then winced at the way she had thought of Roxas' return to Sora's heart: it conjured up the idea of Sora's heart, puzzle piece-like, sitting waiting for the piece that was Roxas to complete it again.

You were just being honest, she continued in her mind, trying to convince herself that she had done the right thing in turning Roxas away, when all she really wanted was to pull him into a dark portal with her and take him to some secluded world where Sora and Char couldn't try anything against them. What would be the point in leading him on when you already knew what was going to become of him as soon as they left?

Unconsciously, emerald eyes squeezed shut in a vain attempt to stave off the angry tears burning at the back of her eyes and in her mouth, only to open again when those attempts didn't work. Her throat sealed itself off, and with a surge of fresh infuriation, she realized she could feel a hollow space yawning in her chest, where her heart was supposed to be.

Dully, through her frustration, she registered that if this many emotions were roiling through her, then Falcon had to have felt this same mixture of anger and sorrow and self-hatred; and if Falcon had felt this same mixture of anger and sorrow and self-hatred, then this surely foreshadowed more heartbreak yet to come for Anxclof's Other.

Great, she thought, and a harsh, bark-like laugh escaped her. My Other's life is now a source of entertainment. What's gonna happen next? What waits around the corner next time?

The laughter got lodged in her throat, somewhere between the lump that now resided there and her mouth, so Anxclof eschewed the attempts to be humorous and curled into a tighter ball, hating the self-deprecation that had reduced her to this. "You moron," she murmured. "You could have just grabbed Roxas and left right then. What the hell was stopping you?"

She knew full well what; the desire for revenge against Char for everything she had done to the former Number XIII had held Anxclof back from making the easy choice. Before all this, Anxclof realized, she would have just taken that opportunity. Now, it seemed, Anxclof's other goal was to take both Char and Sora out of the picture entirely.

A flash of lightning caused Anxclof to surface from her self-induced mire of turmoil and lift her head. The sight lit up before her pulled a ragged gasp out of her mouth.

Because, through the downpour, revealed by the brief flash of light, she had spotted a silhouette standing in the middle of the street. And this silhouette had one hand outstretched, with tendrils of darkness waving and entwining in front of the shape, stark against the light. The sight that had elicited such a sharp response from Anxclof, though, was the spikes flaring out behind the tall silhouette's head.

She opened her mouth to call out his name, but the Flurry of Dancing Flames had vanished before she had found her voice.

Axel's appearance was like a red flag, a hammer that smashed the opaque glass of grief and anger that had veiled her thoughts this morning, and let her see clearly again. And suddenly Anxclof wanted to slap herself for nearly succumbing to her self-pity earlier.

Because Sora and Char were heading gods only knew where, with Roxas in tow, and here Anxclof was - Anxclof, who had vowed to get the boy she loved back no matter what the cost; Anxclof, who never broke a promise - here she was, letting her past mistake shake her to her core and force her to sit crying on the ground. I'm almost as bad as Char now, Anxclof thought wryly, but with determination.

She rose to her feet, ignoring the rush of dizziness that assailed her at such an abrupt change of position, and reached out with one hand. A dark portal opened up before her.

She wasn't sure where the silhouette had been headed when he had vanished into the dark portal, but she recalled how they had lost Kairi before. Anxclof guessed that he was going to wherever he had directed the portal that Sora's childhood friend had vanished into on the beach of Destiny Island. Quickly she ran through the list of possible destinations in her mind: certainly not here, Axel knew better than to take one of the Princesses of Heart straight here of all places, when Kairi might possibly tumble out of the portal right where Xemnas was standing; definitely not Twilight Town, since as far as Anxclof knew it wasn't linked to this place.

Not one of those, but maybe an unlikely world, one that the Organization wouldn't think of exploring, one that the dear old Superior wouldn't want to explore...

Something dawned in Anxclof's eyes, darkening them with realization and new vigor. She had a winner.

A sharp-toothed, almost wolfish smirk grew on Anxclof's countenance, a smirk of self-chiding and slight vexation, as the shadowy snakes wreathing the portal of darkness coalesced before her. And as she stepped into the portal, bound for the ruined castle and dark cliffs of Hollow Bastion, one thought prevailed in her mind.

If Axel can sneak around behind Xemnas' back to betray the Organization, then certainly I can sneak around behind Char's back to bring her little Keybearer down.


Now, Char thought, the only question that had to be in her mind was, Now what?

She shifted uneasily in her chair, folding her arms more tightly around herself and twitching the fingers on one hand against the opposite arm. Next to her, Sora, Donald, and Goofy were gathered around the screen that normally displayed the radar map that detected new worlds for them to visit. The two Disney residents' faces looked drastically different from what Char could see at her limited vantage point; the mage's brow was furrowed in a frown of both frustration and bemusement, while Goofy had one finger to his chin and simply looked confused.

Char didn't dare lean in closer to see Sora's expression for fear of her body's response.

Stop being stupid, she told herself furiously, and expressed her self-anger by tightening her fingers' grip on her arm and angling her glare downward. He's bound to notice something's wrong if you keep acting like this.

The sound of the subject of her thoughts' voice successfully cut off said thoughts, and for some reason, she didn't know whether or not she should feel relieved. Sora's words, though, put that out of her mind immediately.

"That's weird..." he murmured, one fist curled under his chin as he stared down at the screen. The elbow attached to that fist was currently propped against his knee, and Char watched him drop his hand to the control panel and press a few buttons. "I don't see any more new worlds on the radar..."

Though his voice sounded mostly contemplative, Char could detect an underlying impatience and growing desperation. She could understand those two emotions; with the proliferation of more and more worlds on the map following their departure of the worlds already on said map, Sora had probably begun to expect the same thing would keep happening. Now, apparently, that wasn't the case. Char had to admit, she felt a tiny surge of annoyance as well, at the thought that maybe they'd have to go through all those worlds again and see if Riku and Kairi had turned up in the time that Sora and his comrades had been absent. The same exhaustion that, last night, had pushed her to simply go to sleep instead of trying to visit another world damn near took over her when she considered it, and she fought back a groan.

Sora could only stare helplessly down at the screen, a sense of panic wreathing itself over his senses and beginning to cloud his thoughts. The set of worlds on the screen greeted him - there was the Coliseum, and the pumpkin of Halloween Town, and the thorn shape of Pride Rock poking up from within the Pride Lands' snow-globe-like structure - but nothing new chose to show itself.

"Well, now what do we do?" Donald grumbled, sitting back on his haunches on his chair and folding his arms. Goofy gave a helpless shrug in response.

Char hated to admit it, but she shared their concern. Seriously, she couldn't help thinking a little self-deprecatingly, why couldn't the World That Never Was pop up, at least? Then the Organization would finally show their stupid faces, Sora could kick Xemnas' ass, and I could finally move on with my life.

The question remained, though, whether or not, if and when that possibility presented itself, she truly would want to leave Sora.

Then she frowned, after her mind had uttered that strange, completely random question. Well, she tried to justify herself, even if they found the Organization now, Sora was more focused on finding his friends anyway; their journey would continue even then.

And would you stay, even after your revenge had been enacted? a voice in the back of her mind asked, very seriously.

"Char?"

She tried not to jolt in surprise, but she still felt she jerked her head toward Goofy's voice a little too quickly. "Yeah?" she asked, trying to sound like she hadn't just been thinking about the end of her journey.

"We were just wondering if you knew what we should do next," Sora quipped, leaning over the control panel in order to see the redhead better. Privately, he wondered whether or not she had gotten enough sleep last night. Yesterday had been exhausting, especially for him; in fact, the only reason he'd had enough strength to peel himself out of bed this morning was because Donald had cast multiple healing spells on the Keybearer after the latter woke, and even then, an occasional, flickering dull throb in the back of his skull reminded him of yesterday's ordeal. Sora winced very slightly and rubbed his head as another twinge went through him. Donald immediately made as if to raise his staff, but Sora reached out a hand to stop the duck. He couldn't help noticing the absent manner about Char this morning, and honestly, it worried him.

The brunette was so wrapped up in his concern that he almost missed Char's response. "I... really wouldn't know," she muttered, averting her eyes from his. "I mean, we didn't exactly have many units about the inner workings of a Gummi ship's radar..." Behind Sora, Donald let out an almost imperceptible scoff; the Keybearer missed the duck's wordless expression of skepticism, but Goofy turned to give the mage an admonishing look, so Sora figured Donald had said or done something.

Char apparently had caught it as well, because she immediately jerked her head up and fixed the duck with a fierce glower. "Look," she spat, "I'm terribly sorry for not being all-knowing about your stupid vessel's faulty radar, all right? I'm sure there are other worlds we haven't seen yet; we just haven't taken the time to search for them!"

Silently, Sora agreed with her, running over the list of worlds from his last journey that they had yet to spot on the map. Traverse Town, Wonderland, the Deep Jungle, Monstro... okay, maybe not that last one. He held back a tiny shudder; the less time he spent in that whale's belly, the better. Although he certainly wouldn't mind seeing Geppetto and Pinocchio again, Sora had too many bad memories of that world: like the jarring realization of Riku's turn to darkness...

"Hey, guys?" The sound of the hoarse, yet high-pitched voice sounding tentatively in front of them caused the group to turn and look at the dashboard. As they watched, two pale brown shapes leaping up onto the dashboard signaled the appearances of Chip and Dale.

"Y'know what I was just thinkin'?" Chip, who had just spoken, asked. "We haven't gone to visit Twilight Town in a while."

Sora's eyes lit up, and for some reason, when Chip mentioned the place where Sora and his comrades had first awoken, felt a wave of nostalgia. And... an almost achingly longing feeling, one that Sora only got when he thought of Riku and Kairi and his island.

"Gawrsh, you're right!" Goofy gasped and turned to Sora and Char. "We oughtta go back and pay Hayner and his friends a visit!"

Oh, no. A foreboding feeling seemed to arise within Char's stomach, as, with the mention of Twilight Town, the old temptation to just ditch the group and head to the mansion and wait for Riku and Ansem there - a temptation that hadn't troubled her in gods knew how long - returned with a vengeance.

Don't be stupid, she thought firmly. They're bound to notice - and care - by now if you just up and leave.

Then again, though, the tension from last night, and the knowledge that Donald and Goofy knew she knew more than she was letting on, still hung in the air like a thick, poisonous fog. Char knew it was stupid, but she hated feeling this kind of tension after she had worked so hard to earn their trust.

"Sora?" Donald angled his head so he was looking into the Keybearer's face.

Realizing that the others were waiting for his decision - especially Chip and Dale, who were rocking back and forth on their feet anxiously, as though they just wanted this argument to be over - Sora snapped out of the strange trance that the mention of Twilight Town seemed to have brought over him. "Yeah," he answered, trying to keep any trace of the bemusing effect of that nostalgia out of his voice. Why should he feel so attached to a place he barely knew about, anyway?

"I think visiting Twilight Town sounds like a good idea," he continued a little uncertainly, as Char had given him a wide-eyed look of horror. Now that he thought back, when they'd found Char in the old mansion, she had seemed agitated about something or other. Wonder whether or not the way she's acting now is because of that... "If there's nowhere else for us to go," and now there was a peremptory tone to his voice, "then we should at least check Twilight Town."

"The King might've come back there," Donald pointed out, giving Char a belligerent glare, as though daring her to argue.

Sora gave a single nod in response. "And Riku might be there right now, too."

Immediately, instinctively, he turned his gaze to Char, despite his misgivings about doing even that much. Her eyes had remained locked stubbornly, almost pleadingly on the three of them, as though by force of will she could dissuade them from going back to the place where their journey had begun. Sora thought her pupils flickered downward when he tried to make eye contact with her, but she refocused on him so quickly that he couldn't really be sure she had looked away at all.

"Okay, fine," she agreed, if a bit grudgingly. Immediately after acquiescing, though, she tempered her seemingly-easy agreement with an ultimatum. "But we give the place a once-over for Riku and the King, and that's it," she growled.

"But don'tcha wanna visit Hayner and the others?" Goofy pressed.

He received no response other than an almost perfunctory glance from her, and decided not to push the matter any further.

Sora could feel the tension in the air between his three allies, and for the first time that morning, his mind let itself wander to the memory of last night, and the obvious secret being held between the three of them. And at the thought of that secret and the inauspicious feelings attached to it, the tension seemed to begin to seep into his veins as well.

He shook his head to clear it and rolled his previously-stiffening shoulders in an attempt to rid himself of the effect of his thoughts. "W-well," he said, a little awkwardly, "it's all we've got to go on right now."

"Yeah," Donald muttered, not taking his eyes off Char.

Chip and Dale seemed pacified, and indicated this with a few happy chirps and eager comments on what the group might do upon arriving at Twilight Town; but this went all but unnoticed to Sora, as he had spotted something that hadn't occurred with Char in quite a while. It was akin to the effect that being back in Hollow Bastion had had on her, before her leg injury had required her to spend time in her old home for a while and, apparently, had practically forced her to relax among the gray stones and buildings she had once lived among - had all but cured her of whatever had made her balk at heading to Hollow Bastion in the first place.

Now, it seemed, that feeling about her had transferred to Twilight Town. Sora spotted the tower poking up from within Twilight Town's snow-globe - a stark shade of beige against the green wisps of cloud surrounding the Gummi ship - and almost absently flicked a switch so they could descend upon the world's surface. He could still remember the day he had met Char, though the few weeks since it had happened had passed in a chaotic blur: the scent of the hallways of the old mansion, a mix of cinnamon and old building; the sound of Char's voice, irritated and agitated, spouting obscenities that, despite his having heard said words from his father time and time again, still made Sora flinch...

What was it she had said that day? Sora tried to remember, but the memory scuttled out of his mental reach. Great, he couldn't help thinking dryly, I can remember all the useless stuff about that mansion, and not something so important.

"Sora, slow up!" Donald suddenly screeched. Sora snapped back to reality just in time to see the clock tower of Twilight Town flashing very vividly in the windshield. He let out a cry of panic and jerked the steering wheel sharply in the opposite direction, causing the vessel to narrowly avoid crashing into the clock tower entirely.

"Dammit, Key-boy..." The vulgarity and feminine voice signified it was Char speaking in a breathless, half-reproving voice. Sora didn't dare glance over at her for fear of nearly hitting something else, but he cringed at the feeling of her glower burning into his spine. "You think you could maybe concentrate on driving?" she continued, sounding somewhat strained.

Sora narrowed his eyes and felt a flash of irritation at her admonishment. He figured it was just panic that made her so edgy, but that didn't stop him from feeling annoyed. "You drive like this even when you're fully concentrated on it," he pointed out as the Gummi ship began to descend into the seemingly-empty back alley that led to the Usual Spot.

Char opened her mouth to retort, then closed it again. He kind of had a point.

"Just don't do that again," Donald panted, clinging to the armrest of his seat as though his life depended on it, which, a few moments ago, it had. "We can't afford to wreck the vessel now."

Sora fought back an annoyed reply and just concentrated on landing the Gummi ship. As he brought the ship to a surprisingly-gentle halt - let Donald make what he can of that, he thought triumphantly - the brunette cast a rudimentary glance around the back alley to see if anyone had noticed. Somewhat disconcertingly, no one was about; Sora thought it was strange, because the last time they'd been here, the streets had been swarming with people. Not even the movement of the ragged, red curtain that sealed off the Usual Spot from the rest of Twilight Town announced the presence of Hayner, Pence, and Olette.

"Where d'you think Hayner, Pence, and Olette went?" the Keybearer asked, relaxing in the pilot's seat and looking around at his comrades.

Donald gave a tiny shrug. "Maybe they're at school?" he offered.

Sora tilted his head to the side. "School?" he parroted bemusedly. Truth be told, he hadn't thought of school since - well, before this journey had started, since the storm that had taken Destiny Island had come during the summer break. He wasn't sure what sounded worse: dealing with a pack of fellow students or dealing with a pack of Heartless. The thought sent a pang of homesickness through him.

"Yeah, they did say they had to finish summer homework the last time we were here," Goofy added helpfully.

Char blinked and wondered how the hell such a deceptive idiot remembered back that far. Then again, it had only been a few weeks since then.

A few weeks... right. Her resolve faltered the tiniest bit at thinking of how much time it'd been since she'd had to see this place: the place where she and Riku had roamed Twilight Town; the place where she had closely monitored Sora's progress in getting his memories back; the place where she had realized her little crush on Riku, albeit a realization steeped in denial.

"Char! Hurry up or we're leaving without you!" Donald shouted.

The redhead jolted in her seat and spotted the three of them standing at the entrance to the Gummi ship, looking back expectantly at her. Noting Sora standing next to the two Disney residents - how had his getting up escaped her notice? She'd been sitting right next to him, after all - she pushed herself to her feet. "I'm coming; keep your feathers on," she grumbled. "Just let me pick up a few healing items and we'll be on our merry little way."

"Healing...?" Sora looked confused.

Char huffed an impatient sigh. "Just in case. None of the other worlds we've gone to have been safe," she added irritably at the expressions on Donald and Goofy's faces; the looks that seemed to say ha, you do know something more, "so what makes you think Twilight Town will be?"

"It was okay the last time we were here," Donald muttered, yet his voice faltered a tiny bit at the end of his sentence.

Char silently thanked whatever god was watching over her at that moment, because, now that she thought about it, her little excuse for stalling had some validity; the day they had been attacked by the Nobodies returned to her mind and she nearly breathed a sigh of relief.

She pocketed a couple of Hi-Potions and made her way over to the others, slapping some healing items into each of their hands as she went. "Okay," she said, hoping she sounded steadier than she felt. "Let's try that again."

Sora smiled and nodded before turning on his heel and pushing a button on the side of the Gummi ship; the ramp dutifully extended down from the hatch in response to his action, and the door slid open.

Char took a few deep, steadying breaths, not even knowing why she was suddenly so nervous. We'll be fine, she tried to reassure herself. Even if more Nobodies are here...

Her thoughts trailed off as, all at once, it hit her what she was so worried about. Nobodies... Roxas... Anxclof! The redhead felt like hitting her head against the brick wall along the back alley and damn near stopped in her tracks to do so, so strong was her self-annoyance. As it was, though, she only faltered slightly in her stride and mechanically responded in the positive to Goofy's question about whether or not she was okay.

Of course - if Anxclof had had even that brief amount of time with Roxas in the Pride Lands, of course she'd redouble her efforts to find him. And if she showed up here, with Sora's heart already somewhat weakened from Roxas' collision with it... A shiver worked its icy way up Char's spine and she tried to shut out the thought entirely; yet suddenly, the shadows cast along the walls by the dying sun seemed much more menacing, and she half-expected emerald green eyes to be watching them even now. No... that little attempt to stop thinking about it definitely wasn't working.

Char pushed that thought to the back of her mind; she didn't have time to worry about something that probably wouldn't even happen. Probably.

Oh, come on, we'll be fine! she mentally argued against the doubtful little creature in the back of her mind. We've gotten this far, haven't we?

Besides, there was a much more pressing matter, something else that claimed her heart in its ragged little talons and refused to let go. It had plagued her during her very first visit to Hollow Bastion with Sora, and, now that the return to the place where she had made her closest friend was pouring salt into her already-wounded dignity - at having fallen in love again so soon, and for Riku's goofy, key-wielding, Heartless-bashing best friend, nonetheless - that emotion that had wrapped itself around her heart grew stronger. She knew its name well, but that still didn't stop the self-deprecation roiling through her, that it was able to reclaim her yet again.

Nostalgia.

The group was only walking through the back alley, a path that seemed innocuous enough; however, even this relatively limited exposure to this part of Twilight Town seemed to deluge Char's mind in rather unwelcome memories. Her eyes found themselves flickering to corners of the alley that, were she looking down at this world from a bird's-eye view, would reveal other parts of the town to her, other parts that heralded the presence of different memories. That path led to the kiosks where she and Riku - mostly Char herself - had wasted time haggling to lower the price on something; that tunnel over there led down to where she had allowed her guard to drop long enough to show her face to Roxas; this path that she and Sora and the others were walking on led to the Sandlot, where she had watched the town assiduously prepare for the Struggle tournament...

As the four of them walked on in silence, Sora found himself glancing over at Char multiple times. The absent-mindedness that had prevailed over her normally rational demeanor had returned fast on the heels of her decision to bring along some Potions, and it worried him, that she could slip back into her own world so easily. Again, he recalled that there was something about the day he'd met her, something that could probably easily explain her stiff posture, her wandering eyes, everything about her that made her something other than the Char he'd come to know and care deeply for - love, if he really wanted to put a word to it. Sora didn't like thinking about the l-word - it brought too heavy of a burden to the one already on his shoulders and made him feel as if he were betraying Kairi - but it seemed to fit the context of everything he felt when he was around her.

Suddenly he stopped in his tracks, causing Donald to crash into his back with an indignant "wak!" and commence a tirade as to why Sora had halted. The duck stopped, however, when he saw what Sora had had to stop and look at.

A small shape, clad in a high-cut, pale blue cloak that barely revealed the shape's dark face and yellow eyes, dashed past them into the town itself. Its run was slightly hampered by the one hand that it - he, now that Sora was looking more properly - had over its witch-like hat to keep said hat upon its head.

"Help! The sandlot!" the shape wailed for all to hear as he disappeared into the town square. "It's... Seifer! Somebody please help us!"

Sora's eyes widened; the last part was a little softer due to the distance that the kid had put between himself and the Keybearer's group, but Sora understood that something wasn't right.

He turned to his comrades; asking Char about what was bothering her would have to wait. "Sounds like we've got trouble," he said.

Char snorted, bringing her eyes up and folding her arms. "Naw, really? I didn't quite understand with the whole 'somebody please help us' part." She raised her arms and did air quotes on the part that she had quoted from the boy.

Sora grinned, even though Donald was rolling his eyes and glowering at her. That was more like the Char he knew.

"The Sandlot's that way, right?" the brunette asked, nodding straight ahead. At Donald and Goofy's somewhat-hesitant nods, albeit after a moment's thought, Sora gave a single nod of determination. "Then let's go!"

He charged off straight ahead, with his three companions following close after; the sound of their footsteps raining against the ground unexpectedly reassured him and gave him a newfound sense of determination.

Sora didn't dare stop to wonder how he'd known where the Sandlot was. He knew it would slow him down if he thought about it.

The sight of a solid, creamy wall looming up ahead halted Sora in his tracks, and he gasped at the sight before him: three teenagers, somewhat familiar, lying prone on the ground as a group of Dusk Nobodies undulated in their sinuous dances around them. A single, abandoned blue bat lay on the ground next to the boy in the long white coat. As the four looked on in growing horror, the aforementioned boy raised his head and glared defiantly at the Dusks before dropping back down again, as though he were too exhausted to keep fighting. "You think you're so tough?" he growled half-heartedly.

Without hesitation, Sora dashed forward and planted himself in front of the white-clad teenager; wordlessly, his comrades fanned out in a circle to guard the other Twilight Town natives. The anonymous boy raised his head again and glowered at Sora. "And just who the hell are you?" he demanded.

Wow, Sora thought. You're welcome. Outwardly, he smiled as the Circle of Life appeared in his hand. "We'll take it from here," he asserted, and got into his battle stance. On his other side, Char cast a somewhat-doubtful glance over at Seifer; the guy was kind of a bastard even in the virtual world, but dammit, if Sora wanted her to help him protect the little jerk, then so be it.

One of the Dusks wove forward, and Sora dodged around its blows in order to deliver a counterattack of his own. Around him, Char drove her blades into another Dusk's rubbery body, while Donald and Goofy concentrated on confusing the two remaining Nobodies by going all out on both at once; the former cast multiple ice spells in a row, while the latter used the gaps in the Nobodies' attention to lay into them with his shield.

Char couldn't help but feel like things were a little too easy. They'd fought Dusks before, sure, so they were used to the kinds of strategies that this class of Nobodies employed. She flinched as the Dusk she was fighting struck her side with its sharp feet; apparently it had angled itself onto its head and twisted toward her in a caricature of a gymnast's stretch in order to attack. Ignoring the slight surge of blood and warmth that the wound brought to that part of her body, she struck it one last time with both swords at once, and it vanished. Little strategies like those.

She leaped back and looked around. Donald and Goofy looked like they were doing well - again, she thought it shouldn't really surprise her that the head mage and head knight of Disney Castle were so experienced in combat, but the fact surprised her anyway - but she couldn't see Sora anywhere.

Panic surged through her. If that idiot had gotten himself hurt...

Suddenly she felt something latch itself onto her back and drive her to the ground; from the rubbery feel of it against her back, she realized it had to be a Dusk. As the weight increased and she found herself unable to move her arms and attack them, she growled ferociously into the dirt. "Of all the underhanded..." she spat, and wriggled furiously. Miraculously, she got one arm free and, twisting that arm awkwardly, managed to slice through one of the Dusks on top of her. It disappeared in its telltale squelching noise, but that didn't ease the weight on top of her.

Then a flash of light caught the edges of her peripheral vision, and abruptly, gloriously, she found herself free. Scrambling to her feet, she spotted Sora standing in front of her, mildly bruised but otherwise triumphant.

"The hell was...?" She found herself gasping for breath and felt stinging pain all along her back. The Dusks had clearly left their mark on her.

Sora gave a breathless shrug. "Dunno," he answered, reaching into his pocket and pushing a Hi-Potion into her hand; Char flinched as their fingers brushed, but tried not to let it show too much as she took the container and, fumbling her own fingers to get it open, gulped down the healing blue liquid. "I was just fighting like normal, and then something exploded out from my body... I think it was my magic."

Suddenly he gasped and, grabbing Char's wrist, jerked her out of the way of something. Char caught herself on the ground with her hands and sprang up immediately, mouth open and ready to deliver a furious demand as to why he'd done that; but then a pale brown blur assailed her vision and she felt the briefest vibration on the ground as warning before she was knocked into the air.

The landing was almost worse than the impact of the miniature earthquake, and it took both of them a few seconds to get up from their winded positions. Char gasped at the sight of the strangely human-like figures limping along before them, using a kind of claymore to support themselves. Despite the human nature of the creatures, the distinctive Nobody symbol was distinguishable on their bodies.

Despite herself, Char felt a small trickle of fear along her spine. She didn't recognize these types of Nobodies - had never seen them before, and Riku had never described them to her, either.

This was going to be tougher than she thought.

"Hey! A little help would be nice!" Donald roared.

Sora saw that the duck was holding his own against one of the strange Nobodies; Donald was casting furiously, but aside from impeding its stride a little bit, the countless bolts of lightning and balls of fire had no effect on the Nobody, which leaped up into the air and... just hung there.

"Not exactly what we're looking for, but we'll take it," Char muttered, and together, she and Sora raced forward to attack the strange Nobody. Goofy took Donald off to the side and handed him an Ether, and the duck reluctantly wolfed the panacea down before shaking his comrade off and throwing himself back into the fray.

"What are these?" Sora panted as he carved spirals against the Nobody's body in midair.

"Oh, like I'm supposed to know," Char growled, landing after delivering a combination attack of her own. Goofy thankfully managed not to hear her remark in favor of cutting into the Nobody with his shield.

Donald was casting frantically again, disregarding their lack of Ethers in favor of going all out with his magic; in his haste he had forgotten about the other Nobody.

When the pale brown streak caught her eye, Char gasped and shouted some kind of warning - and then the Nobody crashed down into the ground repeatedly, sending shockwaves along the ground and causing the group to stumble and fall under the force of the waves. Sora barely got to his feet in time to roll out of the way of another relentless attack, but his comrades didn't have that kind of luck. The brunette felt anger surge through him at the sight of the trio's wounded forms mingling with the Twilight Town natives' on the ground, and he turned to the still-frenzied Nobody with the full intent of striking it down. Behind him, Donald, Goofy, and Char rose with some difficulty. Donald took one look at all their wounds and cast a healing spell with what remained of his mana and raced back into the heat of battle. Goofy followed close behind, along with Char, who fought the powerful urge to wince in pain; stupid leg was acting up again.

The three of them surged up behind Sora just in time for two more of the strange Nobodies to appear. "Dammit, do these things ever stop coming?" Char roared.

However, Sora managed to catch one of them from behind with the shaft of his Keyblade, and as he furiously attacked the prone one, the one that had just been attacking returned to its original state. Therefore, the impact of the magic exploding from Sora's body as he slammed his Keyblade down into the ground hit all the Nobodies at once.

There was a moment of silence; then, as the light cleared and Sora looked around, panting heavily with sudden fatigue, a wave of relief passed over him and made him ever weaker. The Nobodies had all disappeared.

Char nearly stumbled, but Goofy quickly steadied her with his shield. Leaning heavily on the knight's weapon, she opened her mouth to ask about everyone's status, only to give a start, along with the others, as an unfamiliar voice sounded.

"Impressive."

She searched the area - but no, Seifer, Rai, and Fuu were still unconscious.

Then Donald let out a cry, and the others turned in time to see a black-hooded shape clapping almost sardonically. The figure lowered his hands, and they could almost hear a smirk behind the Organization member's words. "By the way... have you seen a man named Axel? I expect he's here somewhere."

To Sora, the Nobody's silken voice sounded almost condescending, patronizing, and he felt something akin to hatred of this man rising up in him. Maybe it had something to do with Roxas...

"Like we care," Char spat.

The figure turned to face her, and she held her ground against his invisible stare. "Ah, yes - the seventh apprentice. The Superior has told me all about you..."

"Do you have something to say, or are you just going to babble on about nothing?" Char growled, with more bravado than she felt. Inwardly, her heart was pounding, as Donald was now looking at her in slight anticipation. Goofy just seemed uncomfortable.

The smile beneath the hood was almost palpable. Then the figure turned back to Sora, who clutched the Circle of Life more tightly than ever, glaring fiercely despite his injuries. "You see," the Nobody explained, "Axel is no longer acting in our best interest."

"Is he with the Organization, too?" Goofy asked.

Char half-expected a cryptic response, but the figure only gave a simple "Yes."

"You havin' a fight?" Donald almost snickered.

"Not a very organized Organization," Sora remarked with the tiniest smirk.

The Organization member lifted a hand and pointed at Sora, whose sense of triumph ebbed slightly at the obvious intensity behind the gesture. "Don't let your guard down," he warned. "Axel will stop at nothing to turn you into a Heartless."

Sora snorted. "Gee, thanks for the warning, mister, but I can take care of myself."

Inwardly, Char grinned. You tell him, Key-boy.

The Nobody lowered his hand. "Glad to hear it. You see," and now a vague tone of bitterness lurked in his voice, "it would break our hearts if something happened to you."

"Hearts?" Donald demanded. "You don't even have any hearts!"

The figure lifted his hands again, and the group started visibly, only to see that he was merely going to remove his hood. Char remained in a tense position; although she didn't recognize this Nobody's voice, effectively ruling him out as one of her former friends, there was still the slight chance she would recognize his face from Roxas' memories.

She had no such luck. The removal of the hood yielded only long, ice-blue hair, feline golden eyes, and an X-shaped scar across the man's forehead. Char allowed herself to relax, if only slightly.

"True, we don't have hearts. But we remember what it's like." Somehow, the smooth, urbane voice seemed much more intimidating now that they could see the face behind the hood. Goofy could sense something lurking, twitching beneath the surface of this man's fabrication of gentlemanliness. And that wasn't lost on Char, either. The fact that this Nobody was echoing the words she had heard from Anxclof didn't help her rational thought, but even she could catch that much.

Maybe Anxclof is right, the redhead thought. I mean, these other jerks seem to believe it just fine...

"The fact that we have even the vestiges of human emotion," the blue-haired man continued, "makes us special."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Sora demanded.

In response, the Nobody sighed in an almost-bored manner before reaching out a hand; tendrils of darkness announced the dark portal coalescing behind him. "We know very well how to injure a heart," he answered, eyes fixed directly on Sora. "You just keep on fighting those Heartless."

The brunette blinked in surprise, startled into lowering his Keyblade. Up until now he had kept taking down Heartless because he considered it the right thing to do and the wrong thing by the Organization. But... was that really...?

He shook himself immediately. This guy was probably just trying to make him let his guard down.

He turned to Donald. "Let's jump in after him!" he hissed.

Char fought the urge to wince. Even now, Key-boy still hadn't quite perfected his stage whisper.

"How come?" the duck whispered.

"Well, maybe he'll lead us to the Organization's world," Sora answered lowly.

Gods, if only. That would solve all of Char's problems.

The blue-haired Nobody had clearly heard everything, because he spoke above the two's alleged whispering. "Don't be so reckless," he admonished, his tone now almost fatherly. His brows drew down over his eyes in a dark smile, and Char sensed what was coming before he even dropped the comment. "Do you want to end up like Riku?"

Sora felt something jar inside him, something that hadn't shifted so drastically since that day in Port Royal when Char had murmured Riku's name in her sleep. He shot to attention and nearly dropped his Keyblade, so great was his shock. "What?" was all he could say, near speechless in his surprise

In response, the Nobody merely bowed his head and extended his arms almost welcomingly before stepping back into the portal.

"Hey, wait!" Sora shouted, but the portal had already vanished.

He turned to his comrades, a visibly deflated look on his face. Until now he'd gone on with the hope of finding Riku safe and Ansem-free, free from the dark realm along with King Mickey - but for the first time Sora allowed himself to face the negative possibility: Riku's possible death at the claws of the Heartless in the dark realm...

Sora swallowed the tears that had begun to rise behind his eyes at the thought. "What did he mean, 'end up like Riku'?" he murmured, staring at the ground.

For a moment, watching him there, seeing his normal blithe mask slip off his face and crash to the ground and break into pieces, Char had the strangest, most powerful impulse to put her arms around him the way he'd done to her so many times before now. Yet she shoved that impulse to a dark corner of her mind and instead chose to watch him sympathetically. Nearby, Donald and Goofy cast each other helpless glances.

She knew very well what that Nobody had meant by end up like Riku: consumed by darkness in order to maintain a higher goal. The very idea of Sora succumbing to the same fate was ridiculous - he was the chosen hero of light for a reason, after all - yet she could see a point behind the Nobody's words.

The thing that was really bothering her was that the identity of that Organization member was unknown to her. The redhead found herself folding her arms and tapping her fingers against the arm that said fingers lay against thoughtfully; later today she'd have to go through her memory and try to remember if Roxas' memories had ever shown her this guy.

"Hey - you mind getting out of my town now?" Belligerent as it was, the voice that had uttered those words only made Char sigh and drop her arms back down to her legs. Simultaneously, she turned to see Seifer and crew standing properly again. "You've caused enough trouble," Seifer went on, glowering right at Sora.

"Oh, come on, Seifer," Char grumbled. "He just saved your sorry ass and now you're bitching about it? Give me a break. Nobody's that ungrateful."

"Hey!" Rai blustered on one side of Seifer. "Seifer just said he wants you guys out, y'know?"

Fuu raised one eyebrow and said nothing.

"Riku..." Sora mumbled, clearly still lost in thought.

Char cast him a worried glance before looking back to the Twilight Town natives, narrowing her eyes as she did so. Seifer looked to have the worst injuries of all of them, but even so, he still managed to meet her glare just fine. "Fine," she spat. "Have it your way." She turned on her heel and strode off toward the Sandlot exit. "Let's go, guys."

"Hold it," Seifer suddenly said, causing Char to stop in her tracks. Despite herself, a smirk began to curl the corners of her lips, but she curbed her smugness just long enough to turn around and ask, innocently, "Yes?"

"Shut it, chickie," Seifer growled. He mumbled something about just like that stupid girl before as he looked at Sora. The brunette still was staring at the ground, but the gleam of light off of something caught his eye and he looked up.

Seifer was holding out a trophy that held different-colored orbs on each of its branches. Char barely held back a gasp at the familiarity of it, and at the thought of the irony that now, in the real world, the real Sora was getting the same trophy that the fake Sora had gotten in the virtual world, a wave of nausea took her stomach and refused to leave.

"This goes to the toughest guy in Twilight Town," Seifer was saying - growling, really. Sora was still staring down at the thing like Seifer had just shown him a two-headed worm, so Seifer huffed out an impatient sigh and shoved it into the Keybearer's hand.

This seemed to rouse Sora; he blinked, shifted the trophy so it lay in the crook of one arm, pointed at himself questioningly with his free hand, and when Fuu rolled her eyes behind Seifer, simply looked more confused. "Thanks, but... we don't really need it," he answered carefully.

Seifer growled deep in his throat. "Just take the stupid thing!" he snarled, and pushed his way past Sora. The brunette stumbled, but didn't fall, just stared after the blond as his bulky and silver-haired friends followed him out of the Sandlot.

"O...kay..." Donald muttered.

"That was weird," Goofy agreed.

Char pushed her bangs out of her eyes in an attempt to clear her head and looked at the others. "Well, now what?" she asked.

Sora lifted his gaze to her and seemed ready to respond, only to be interrupted by the sound of a voice behind him. "Sora!"

The Keybearer pivoted around and spotted a dark-haired, somewhat overweight boy making his way toward him. "Uh... hey," the brunette greeted somewhat hesitantly as the other boy came to a stop in front of him, grinning like an idiot. Sora had to crane his neck to see around the massive trophy, and the other boy looked a little bemused, but thankfully he didn't ask. "Pence, right?"

Char mentally smacked her forehead and cursed the Keybearer's short-term memory loss; apparently Donald did as well, because he pushed against Sora's leg with one hand and a reprimanding expression on his feathered face.

Pence just nodded. "Hey, do you know a girl named Kairi?"

Sora almost dropped the trophy - Goofy reached over and caught it just in time - and a huge grin spread across his face. Char watched and slowly became aware of something hollow echoing inside her as his excitement permeated the air. "I sure do!" he blustered with the same moronic grin on his countenance.

"Then you'd better come to the station. The others are there." Without another word, Pence turned and jogged off in the direction of the train station.

Still smiling idiotically - honestly, get that grin off your face; if the wind blows wrong it'll freeze like that - Sora turned to his companions, completely oblivious to Char's inner turmoil. "Do you think Kairi's here?" he asked, and the hope in his voice was so obvious Char suddenly wanted to cry with the force of the hollowness within her chest.

"I don't see any other way it makes sense," she muttered, looking away.

Goofy peered at her over the trophy in his grasp and opened his mouth to say something. But Sora interrupted him. "Well, what're we waiting for? To the station!" he announced, and without waiting for them to respond, he whirled around and charged off in the direction where Pence had left.

Donald gave a start and squawked out an irritated "Hey, wait up!" before following at what was, for him, a breakneck pace; Goofy cast Char a helpless glance and, running rather clumsily due to his burden, followed after his friends.

Char stood there a few more moments, during which the hollow space inside her tried to eat at her and nearly swallow her up in despondence. Roxas' words echoed in her head again. You know he feels the same way...

How can he, though, she thought almost for the sake of arguing, when he just hears Kairi's name and then acts like that?

Well, she was his friend; Char had to expect Sora to miss Kairi in some way.

Just, she couldn't help thinking, not in the same way Char would miss Sora when this journey was over.

Char shook her head very slowly. Dammit. She hadn't gotten this deep in hopelessness in a while. That sense only served to increase when she heard voices up ahead, one hoarse and squawk-like, the other boyishly excited, and suddenly she felt loneliness accompany that hopelessness for herself.

Very slowly, feeling as though her limbs were made of lead - the fact that the damn injury, the proof of what her dedication to what this journey entailed meant to her, was acting up didn't help either - she started forward. Char knew the way to the train station by herself; she had to have some time alone to think for a little while.


Agh, that ending was bad. Way too angsty. D: I've been lauded before for not allowing Char to fall into the "sea of angst," but hey - think of it this way: if the guy you really liked - and who, really, likes you too - suddenly started spazzing out over seeing his old crush again, wouldn't YOU get a little depressed, too? -/fail justification-

Also, remember last chapter, how I said I have music I listen to for certain parts of the fic? Yeah. Remembering Sunday by All Time Low on super-repeat for the end of this chapter. :) It fits SoraChar really well, I swear...

Now I'm off to TRY and work on RftL...