Roxas walked into The Grey Area, seeing the strange trio of Demyx, Xigbar, and Xion together.
"This place is, like, a hundred times better minus all the bossy coworkers, am I right?" Demyx said looking at Xion, but seemed to be taken aback as they didn't respond.
"Bossy coworkers?" Roxas questioned.
"Yeah, the "dream team" that got shipped off to Castle Oblivion. Dreamy for me, because they're gone!" Demyx said with a victorious smile on his face. But unlike Axel's, seeing Demyx smile didn't bring him any relief. Instead, seeing him smile just reminded him that he didn't know when Axel would return.
"Too bad you and Poppet didn't get to spend more quality time with them." Xigbar remarked with an amused expression on his face, even more offputting then Demyx's.
"Poppet? What's that?" Roxas asked.
"Xion, of course. Who else, kiddo?" Xigbar said placing a hand on Xion's head, who didn't react at all to the contact.
Roxas frowned at his tone, not liking something about it. "My name's not "kiddo." It's Roxas." He said but that only seemed to amuse Xigbar more for some reason.
"Get to work. All of you." Saïx said as he walked in followed by Lexaeus and Luxord who walked off with Xigbar.
"We sent five members over to Castle Oblivion. That's almost half of our ranks." Roxas overhead as he walked over to the strange group.
"No use fretting the absence of others. They simply lose this round by no-show." Luxord said as he shuffled his cards.
"Heh, says you. I love days when Larxene is out. I can sit around playing sitar...instead of being her gopher!" Demyx said, summoning his Sitar to play as he sat down.
"You should have gone with them. Then maybe you would have worked on that work ethic of yours." Lexaeus remarked with a stern expression.
"Hey- don't say that!" Demyx shot back, now looking nervous at the thought of having his carefree days taken away.
Roxas turned out of the conversation as he walked towards Xion and Saïx.
"You will be teamed with Xion again today." The elder Nobody said briefly, as he opened up the portal. Xion walk in first but Roxas lingered for a second. Wondering if he could ask Saïx about the lingering questions he had about Castle Oblivion...
"Roxas." Saïx said getting his attention.
"...It's nothing." Roxas mumbled, following Xion to complete their mission.
They entered Twilight Town from an alleyway, off the side street. This time as Roxas was more on guard as he sensed a group of powerful Heartless, telling Xion to remain on guard as they approached.
In the sandlot, they spotted a number of Deserter Heartless running around wildly. The foes proved to be more than they appeared to be as they were hard to catch, and even harder to destroy. However, Roxas counted himself lucky as Xion's magic had zeroed in on the foes, stunning them for a second as he was able to destroy them.
Eventually, they were both tired from all of the running but the job was done.
"I've got someplace to be again today, so go on ahead without me." Roxas said after escorting Xion back to the portal. But as he started to walk to the clocktower he heard something.
"R...Roxas..."
"Huh?" Roxas questioned, turning back to Xion who was still facing the portal. For a second he thought he was mishearing. "What did you say?"
Number XIV turned to face him at the sound of his voice. "Your name...it's...Roxas, isn't it?"
"Uh...yeah, Xion. That's right." Roxas said in surprise as Xion then walked through the portal without a second thought, leaving him alone again.
As Roxas sat on top of the clock tower eating his ice cream, he thought about when he first saw his name, the figure in black, and the words he couldn't recall.
"My name... Was that the first thing Xion's ever said?" Roxas wondered aloud, unsure of who he was asking.
-Roxas's Diary Entry: Day 24-
I teamed up with No. XIV again today. We finally talked a little-Xion even said my name for the first time.
Afterward, I had ice cream by myself again. The lady at the shop mentioned to me that if I got a WINNER on my ice cream then she would give me another bar.
...But I'm not sure what I would do with two ice creams. Axel and I always eat one apiece.
-Secret Report: Zexion-
Marluxia has taken a personal interest in the test subject that has arrived at the castle. I sense multiple threads at work, but details on each of the projects are scarce. I suspect some alleged Organization projects are secretly private machinations. Marluxia seems especially suspect, however... I cannot say that Vexen appears to be innocent in all of this either. He seems to believe that the presence of this person will bring about something more interesting, but it is always difficult to comprehend how he thinks.
One thing is for certain...I doubt I have any true allies here.