"You seem pretty intrigued by this Sora kid." A blond haired nymph like woman remarked, glancing at Axel who stood nearby, both looking into a crystal ball that observed their new "guest".

"Are you telling me you're not, Larxene?" Axel said, tilting his head enough to catch her expression.

Larxene smirked with a statistic expression on her face. "Haven't decided yet... I think what intrigues me more is what you see in him."

Axel shrugged his shoulders, disinterested in her questioning. "Kid's cute, trying to fight against the 'big bads', but don't tell me you're not interested. After all, if our dear Marluxia get his way, you may not be his favorite anymore." he chided with a playful smirk.

Larxene simply sighed, shrugging her shoulders at his joke with a dead-panned expression. "Then he's deluded as you are. Any one of us even flicks the kid and he's a heartless plain and simple. Besides, we've already gone above and beyond on members. The cut off point was that your brat with the key and the puppet."

Axel twitched slightly but was unseen by his fellow member, lucky for her,"Come now Larxene, seedlings need to be cared for before they can properly blossom."

"Weed seems more fitting." She smirked in amusement. "After all, as soon as Marluxia stops being bored the kid'll be disposed of properly. He'll probably end up being one of Vexen's new playthings."

"Maybe," Axel murmured, "or maybe there's more to the kid that meets the eye. After all, to unlock the mysteries of the heart. Isn't that the Organization's mission?"

Larxene smirked knowingly the two returning their attention to the crystal ball as Namine watched on, completing her drawing of the four friends together.

Kairi was the first person that entered his mind as Sora arrived on the fourth floor after hours of wandering. He remembered talking to her as they were children on the way to the boats. However, his attention was pulled towards someone standing behind them, feeling her presence. Kairi called out to her first, but as Sora turned his head he only saw the girl's silhouette as she vanished before his eyes.

"Huh?!"

Sora opened his eyes looking back but the girl disappears entering the fourth floor hall. "Not again..." Sora sighed as he was tired of almost seeing people, reflexively he turned forwards towards his front, expecting an enemy, but let out a sigh of relief as he-maybe- wouldn't be attacked again.

Who could that have been before in my memory? It wasn't just Kairi... but another...girl? Maybe... I think her name was...

"Sora?" Jiminy asked popping out his new 'room'. "Is everything okay?"

"It was right on the tip of my tongue is all…ah" He mumbled as he lifted his head with realization, widening his eyes slightly. "I remember!"

"Huh?"

"There was another girl!"

"A girl?"

Sora turned towards Jiminy with a feeling of relief in his heart, "Yeah, on the islands where I used to live. Besides Kairi and Riku, there was one other girl I was friends with. The four of us played together all the time.

"Hm...I don't recall Kairi ever talking about another girl she was friends with. It was just you, and Riku." Jiminy remarked.

"Yeah...I guess we forgot all about her. I think...she just suddenly went away when we were all kids I guess."

"Do ya remember anything about her?"

"Hmmm, well...I remember that she was nice...kind of quiet but always her that sketchbook in her hands. She was really good at it too, Riku and I would always fight over who'd she draw next. But I don't think she went anywhere without Kairi." Sora smiled at the memory of he and Riku clashing their toy swords while she and Kairi watched. "But one day, she was gone, disappeared all of a sudden. " His smiled faded. "I think the grown-ups knew the reason. They might even have tried to explain some of it to me. But I was little, I probably didn't understand what was happening. All I can remember is crying a lot after I realized that she was never coming back." Sora placed a hand over his heart, feeling uneasy.

"Hm, I wonder why Kairi or Riku never mentioned her before." Jiminy pondered, "After all sounds like she was as close of a friend as you are now."

Sora just shook his head. "The memories are really hazy from that time, but..." He placed his hand over his heart, "it just feels like something bad happened, and I think once she disappeared Riku and Kairi got closer, they were closer to her than I was, and we just never talked about it again...the rest is just bits and pieces, but...that's all. I don't even remember her name."

"Hm, well, you did say it happened when all you were young kids, it's not surprising that the memories would be hazy." Jiminy said comfortingly.

"I guess." Sora looked around for a moment, clawing his heart. "Maybe being separated from my friends is reminding me of that time…" His heart hurt at the memory of the islands. "It's like Axel said... 'Our most precious memories lie so deep in our hearts, that they're out of reach.' All that stuff about finding being losing and losing being finding... I didn't get it at first, but maybe this is what he meant..."

"Axel?" Jiminy questioned as he noticed that Sora flinched slightly at the name before laughing off a lingering fear in his chest.

"Oh, he's one of those black coats I met in the castle. He's a little weird, but doesn't hold back at all in a fight." Sora said unintentionally placing his hand over the most recent bruise that came from the red haired man, wincing at the memory.

"Hmm." Jiminy gave him a concerned expression but said nothing, only placing his hand on Sora's cheek comfortingly, "Well I'm sure that it'll come back to you, don't worry, if this girl was a good a friend as you say I'm sure you'll remember her name soon enough."

"Yeah, I hope so." Sora nodded with a smile, but his smile faltered as he clutched his chest tighter as he walked towards the next floor.

It's funny, I know that this girl was important to us, but why can't I feel anything towards her? I know that we were friends, all four of us, but...I can't remember any feelings attached to her specifically...

Omake:

"SORA!"

He heard his friends names as he crashed into the darkness, alone, watching the light being drawing away from his vision; The sun's rays shining through the ocean's waves beginning to fade. The last thing he saw was the bubbles escaping from his breath as he closed his eyes. He felt cold, alone, but...something about this felt familiar...

Hello?

A familiar light shone upon upon him, next thing he knew he was on the shoreline of the island under a bright blue sky and warm sun.

"Hm?" He looked around for a moment, "Hey, isn't this..." Looking closer, he saw that the shack and pier looked new, like when he was a kid still rowing to his island with help from Riku.

"Hi."

"WAH-" Sora flinched as someone tapped his shoulder, jumping forward and turning he saw a familiar looking boy with dirty blonde hair and weird looking clothes. He had a bright smile on his face that he didn't try to hold back, happiness practically radiating off of him.

"Hm?" Sora tilted his head curiously as he looked up to the taller boy with a curious look on his face. "Do I...know you?"

The boy chuckled to himself, "I dunno, do you?"

"Ummm..." He crossed his arms, thinking to himself hard about the familiar feeling in his heart. "Well, I don't think I saw you on the mainland...or on the island...but, I can't help but think we've met each other before..." Sora shut his eyes tight, struggling to remember, hearing the boy chuckle again as he placed his hand on Sora's head, ruffling his hair affectionately, the touch comforting him almost immediately.

"Don't stress out about it too much, it'll come back to you soon enough." He said walking away towards the Paopu tree.

"Hey, wait!" Sora called out, running up to the boy to walk beside him. "What's your name?"

"Can't say."

"Can't say? Why not?" Sora pouted, causing the boy to smile in amusement.

"Because that's not how the game works." He explained.

Sora widened his eyes slightly in interest, "Game?"

"Yeah," The boy nodded. "It's a really hard game, so, I'll give you a hint." He gestured for Sora to come closer, whispering in the smaller boy's ear as he knelt down. "We're bestest friends."

"Huh?" Sora pulled back, even more confused as the taller boy placed both hands behind his head, a smirk drawing on his face as Sora was going through a whirlwind of emotions. "W-Wait a sec, that's-"

"Sorry, only hint ya get." The boy said as he walked off towards the Paopu tree.

"Bestest... friends?" Sora questioned as he rested his chin on his thumb, pondering to himself. "Well my best friends are Riku and Kairi...but who's my bestest friend." He looked around the shore of the island, glancing towards the secret place while the boy now sat on the Paopu tree, admiring the ripe fruit. Sora looked between the two options and for a moment, wavered before he walked towards the secret place, a chill creeping up his spine.

...

The carvings on the walls were freshly marked not faded after years. He knelt down towards the doodle of he and Kairi made as children, smiling to himself as he brushed his hand over the doodle he made of her. He then felt something...odd. A familiar feeling as he glanced towards the door that was exactly like the one that was in the actual secret place.

Hesitantly, he placed his hand on the door, closing his eyes as he felt a familiar feeling of terror. His eyes were still closed but he could feel a panic as he could sense someone evil walking towards him, the image of a boy in a black mask flashed in his mind as Sora struggled to pull himself away from the darkness, his heart raced as the footsteps got closer, and closer, almost close enough to touch his face. There was a hand reaching out, about to envelop his throat, but then something pulled him back, hearing a voice next to his ear angrily speaking.

"Get lost already."

Suddenly, Sora opened his eyes as he was enveloped in a hug from behind, the boy from before was glaring at the door in front of them in fury. He was at a loss for words as his heart was beating in his ears, as he did when he was a child, awaking from those terrible nightmares about the monster behind the door.

"Wha...What was that?" Sora gasped as he still trembled from fear. But he only felt the taller boy give him a reassuring hug, sighing to himself as they stood together for a moment within the cavern.

"Sorry, I forgot to warn you about that place." The boy mumbled close to Sora's ear. He pulled himself back, placing his hand on Sora's shoulder as he guided them out of the Secret Place, with Sora only glancing back once towards the door that radiated darkness.

...

The two sat next to each other on the trunk of the paopu tree next to each other as the sun began to set. He could have sworn that he'd felt this feeling before, this feeling of safety and relief so long as this person was by his side. Sora glanced at him as the breeze blew towards them, his eyes widened slightly as his he said a word on pure impulse as he remembered.

"Hm? Sora, did you say-AH!" Ventus turned towards him for a moment flinching back in shock as he saw Sora's eyes well up with tears, he was then stunned as Sora wrapped his arms around him tightly.

"VENVEN!" He cried out as he clasped his friend tightly like when he was a child. "I MISSED YOU SO MUCH!"

"Wha-" Ventus stammered. "Wha...I thought you forgot all about me."

Sora chucked as he wiped away his tears. "Only because I thought you were an imaginary friend..."He paused for a moment. "You're real, right?"

Ventus sighed, resting his hand on Sora's head. "As real as you or your friends."

"Oh," Sora breathed a sigh of relief, "Okay, that's good. For a second there I almost believed Riku when he said you were imaginary."

"Riku said that?"

"Yeah, when I was younger I kept talking about how awesome you were, but Riku just said that you were an imaginary friend because I couldn't prove you were real."

"Oh he did, did he?" A shade shadowed over Ventus's eyes for a moment as he recalled how Sora used to complain to him about how Riku would dictate what was real and wasn't. And Sora, always wanting to impress the older boy,had always believed him; inadvertently most likely being the main cause of why Sora stopped visiting him. With the realization of that came a strong urge to punch the silver haired boy grew in his chest, it was fine, he was older now...

"Venven?" Sora asked, pulling Ventus out of his dark urges and back to a bright smile as the younger boy tugged at his sleeve, trying to get his attention.

"Yeah?"

"Why am I back here again?"

"Oh, that's because you were drowning."

"..." Sora just stared at him dumbfounded for a moment, as Ventus tilted his head curiously.

"Sor-"

"I'M DROWNING?! WOAH-" Sora exclaimed as he fell from the tree and bumping his head. "OW!" He winced in pain, sitting up as Ventus rubbed where he hit his head.

"You're fine though," Ventus reassured as Sora leaned into his touch, petting his head. "Your friends'll wake you up soon."

"Wha- You are giving me a lot of information to process right now." Sora complained not understanding what was going on.

Ventus only smiled gently, "Don't worry about it, just trust yourself and the rest will sort itself out."

"...WHAT DOES THAT EVEN MEAN?!" Sora exclaimed, wincing again as he flinched.

Ventus laughed, pulling Sora into a hug, resting his forehead on his shoulder. "Just trust me on this little Star."

Sora sighed to himself, not pulling back from this hug as his head still throbbed painfully. He liked renewing this feeling of warmth, of safety within this Venven's arms. The memories were still a little hazy to him, but he smiled at the emotion that they triggered within his heart. The reassurance of someone always watching over him, with unconditional affection and love him when he was feeling down. He was older now so it wasn't like he could ask the same things of his friends or parents, after all, it would be odd...right?

Even so, he was pretty sure that Venven could feel that he was about to wake up, as the older boy gently tightened his loving embrace. Sora only responded by turning his head on Ventus's shoulder, grasping his jacket as he could feel his grasp slipping from this precious place. His grasp slipping from the most precious person residing within his heart...

/Notes/

- The Heart knows the truth. And I will only say that about Sora's COM journey for now.

- A fluff chapter because my little heart need it for what's to come okay? Hint, hint.

- I'm always placing hints on what's to come in future arcs within both the main an omake chapters. Hint Hint.

- Also just a reminder/heads-up, the COM omake chapters are like a prologue, and Kairi will not be physically present for COM. I promise, I will bring her back in later arcs, because I love her very much.

- The other side of the omake will be in the next chapter. ;3