An image of an older man was displayed on screen of the D.T.D, the Hollow Main Security System.

"The Replica that Even was working on for Roxas was stolen," a young man with long bangs lamented.

The former Number VI paced back and forth. He remembered the large stacks of papers on Even's desk. He always kept such detailed paper notes. As a researcher, he was never satisfied until he'd written everything down. And he never did listen to anyone's advice to go digital. He would have been no help with the Datascape.

"He always handled the technological side of our research. And I'm certainly nowhere close his equal in that regard." He sighed deeply. "If only he were here..."

His eyes drifted back to the computer monitor. The older man wore a white lab coat and a red scarf.

I wonder how many memories remain from the time when I was a child. I think about that when I reflect on hearts and memories. My childhood memories are extremely hazy. I don't remember my parents very well at all. However, my time spent in this radiant garden is beautiful and vivid, and I still have clear memories of it to this day. That's why I couldn't forgive the betrayal. But that betrayal was a fabrication.

Now, I simply live to make amends for what I've done.

Ienzo penned a page in his Report entitled, "Ansem Code Conspectus":

These are difficult quandaries, but as I work through my master's data, I find myself remembering the taste of ice cream. When I was a boy, he would bring me some when we took walks together. There will be time to regret my betrayal later. For now, my focus must be on restoring Roxas and proving my master had good intentions.

"We're not supposed to sit up here, Hayner," Olette chided as she made her way up the stairs of Twilight Town's station tower.

Pence couldn't help but agree. "Yeah, why'd you come up here instead of the usual spot?"

Hayner could only shrug his shoulders, and he plopped down on the ledge. "I dunno. It just seemed like a cool place, I guess. I mean check out this view. It's even better than Sunset Hill."

The view was indeed something else. The whole town was visible, bathed in red light.

Olette and Pence ate the ice cream bars they had brought with them. But Hayner wasn't eating one this time.

This struck Pence as odd. "Not in the mood for ice cream today? You sure you're not sick?"

Hayner just shrugged. He couldn't get his mind off the photograph Sora showed him. A best friend we've never met...

Olette noticed something else out of the ordinary. Hayner was staring at something in his hand, and it wasn't the usual ice cream. "You still have one of those trophy gems, Hayner?"

Pence then noticed it, too. "Oh, yeah. I didn't know you were holding onto it all this time."

Hayner proudly held the crystal up to the light of the setting sun. It shone, refracting the red beams. "Yeah. Sora kept the blue one. So, I kept the orange one to remember him by."

Ever since Sora recently came to visit again, Hayner would constantly stare at the gem.

Then Pence laughed. "Aww, I guess you do have a soft side."

Olette laughed, too.

Hayner's beet red face contorted into a scowl. "Sh-shut up!"

Pence laughed again. "Hey, come on now. Don't be so touchy. I had the same idea." He took the green gem out of his pocket. "See?"

"Wow, me too." Olette plucked her pouch from her pocket and took the yellow gem out of it. "I have it right here."

Hayner was astonished at the coincidence. He began staring out at the horizon, lost in thought. "Hey, Olette."

"Hm?"

"Remember that pouch Sora had? The one that looked just like yours?"

"Mm-hmm. There was a gem in the pouch. Just like the ones in this trophy."

Hayner squinted his eyes. He held his gem up again, this time intensely focusing. "You think this gem has something to do with Roxas?"

Olette saw him concentrating and held hers up too, then Pence did the same. The Twilight Town kids were quiet, gazing at their crystals in the last of the sunlight.

"It's a promise."

"I remember!" Hayner immediately sprung onto his feet. "I remember Roxas, you guys!"

"You guys made a promise to win the tournament and split the prize."

Hayner was shocked to hear that Pence was recalling the same memory.

Olette nodded, too. "Right... Roxas won the tournament and the trophy. We came up here to celebrate, then we each took a crystal."

"Hey, do you guys remember?" Pence asked. "Weird stuff was happening with Roxas. That's when we started investigating the Seven Wonders of Twilight Town."

"Yeah, he was acting really weird," Hayner replied quietly. "He was spacing out all the time. Said he saw the ghost train. But there was nothing there. Then he wanted to go that haunted mansion. I really didn't want to, so I blew him off. But...that was the last time I ever spoke to him."

"Hayner..." Olette said sadly.

Hayner held his gem up one more time and looked out at the sunset. He felt a new sense of determination well up in his chest.

Roxas! I'll find you! Then we'll all go to the beach together! I promise!

"Roxas!" He shouted, then darted off downstairs.

"H-Hayner! Where are you going!?"

"Wait for us!"

Pence and Olette got up to chase after him.

Meanwhile, in Twilight Town, a dark portal opened near the old mansion in the forest outside of town. The first person to step out was a stately middle-aged man with a beard, and the other a younger man with long gray hair—Ansem the Wise and Ansem, Seeker of Darkness. Both wore black coats.

Hayner was the one to spot them.

"It's about time!" Pence exclaimed.

Hayner hurriedly clapped a hand over his friend's mouth. "Heeey, shut it!"

The two men passed through the gate of the mansion.

Ansem the Wise looked up to the second floor at the window of what had once been Naminé's room. She had spent all her time drawing in there.

"What now?" pressed the younger man.

"Please. I have created enough victims," the elder Ansem replied.

"Yes, you have. All the children sacrificed in the name of your research…"

"Do you recall those experiments of the heart you bade me cease? Among the test subjects was a boy."

Ansem the Wise regretted his shameful past, but ultimately, it was irreversible. "The boy. I brought him here in order to help restore his memory."

But the false Ansem had no sympathy for the pain of his former mentor. "And that makes you honorable? You used Roxas and Naminé and threw them away. I doubt there's a merciful bone in your body."

"Roxas... If there is any reason that I still draw breath, it is to atone for what I did to him."

And that was exactly the reaction Xehanort was hoping for. Ansem alone had the knowledge to recreate Roxas's heart from data. If Roxas was going to be brought back, Ansem's help was needed. And if Xehanort could exploit his guilt, so be it.

"...So make things right."

Pence, Hayner, and Olette had been listening in on the exchange from their hiding place behind the gate. They noticed that the two men were wearing the same black robe as the red-haired man who kidnapped Kairi.

"He said 'Roxas,'" Pence whispered to his friends.

"Yeah," Hayner replied with a nod.

"That man needs us," said Olette, and with that the three friends went into action.

Meanwhile, the conversation continued. "When you experimented on that boy all those years ago, what is it that you expected would happen?" Ansem the Wise asked the Heartless who had taken his name.

"Subject X. The child was an important key concerning the battle we seek between light and darkness. You knew something, and that… is why you stopped the experiments."

Ansem the Wise shook his head at the accusation. "You are completely deluded, Xehanort."

"Yoo-hoo! 'Scuse meee!" Pence jumped out and yelled.

"Who are you?" asked Xehanort-Ansem, turning back angrily.

Trying to buy time, Pence said, "Oh, well, I'm looking for a friend who used to live here."

"No one lives here. Begone," the Heartless snapped.

"But, sir…"

"No, no, no! Not one more step. Get out!"

When Xehanort-Ansem took a few steps toward Pence, Olette used the opening to hurry over to Ansem the Wise and take his hand. "This way!" She took off running around the side of the mansion with him in tow.

Xehanort-Ansem spun around as he noticed the deception.

Now it was Hayner's turn to jump in—with a flying kick. "Hey, loser!"

But just before the attack connected, a strange dark figure appeared from the evil Ansem's back and caught the boy by the foot.

"…or not!"

"Hayner!" Pence called out to his friend, who now dangled helplessly in the air.

The creature hurled Hayner toward the perimeter wall, but at the last moment, he was saved by…

"The squiggly things?"

Properly speaking, they were Dusks, low-ranking Nobodies. They lowered Hayner to the ground, then positioned themselves around Xehanort-Ansem and his guardian.

"They…protected me."

"Hayner! Get a move on!"

"Oh… Okay!"

Pence and Hayner made a quick escape through the gate.

"I serve the Organization. This is treason," Xehanort-Ansem said softly, his mouth twisting into a smirk.

We serve our liege.

"Hmph. I see what is happening. Have it your way, then."

And with that, the Nobodies threw themselves at the Seeker of Darkness and his guardian.

The kids' ploy for time worked perfectly. Olette came running with Ansem the Wise into an underground passage. Hayner and Pence joined them shortly after.

"Are you guys okay?" Olette asked with concern.

Gasping for breath, the two boys flashed her relieved smiles.

"Yeah, I think."

"Nobody knows the twists and turns of Twilight Town better than us."

"You are Roxas's friends," a surprised Ansem the Wise said.

"That's right," Hayner replied. "So you know him, too?"

"Oh yes. Quite well," Ansem affirmed.

"Pay dirt. Guess it was worth staking out the old mansion after all, because this guy here is what I call a lead." Pence pulled a photo of Roxas and the three of them out of a pocket.

"That's the only proof we have that Roxas was our friend." Olette smiled as she looked at the photo.

"Tell us about him. We wanna know him better," Hayner said eagerly. "How did he become friends with us in the other Twilight Town?"

Before he could answer, the white creatures from earlier arrived in the tunnel.

"Ahh!" Olette ducked behind Hayner, clinging to his arm.

"Are they on our side or what?" a confused Hayner questioned.

Ansem remembered the Dusks all too well.

"Organization miscreants... They've found us."

"But...why would the Nobodies steal photographs?"

"Both are nothing but data to them. The fools could never tell the difference."

"I see. These Nobodies. They are loyal to Roxas. It is safe again."

The trio of kids exchanged a confused glance with each other.

Inside the mansion, Ansem stared at the transporter to the alternate Twilight Town. "I was the one who built the simulated town and placed Roxas inside."

Pence wasn't expecting to hear that. "So, this was your computer!?"

"Yes. It was created using the memories of those who lived in the real version. Including yours."

The trio listened in astonishment.

"You said you 'placed' Roxas in there, right? So, he came from the real world. And he met the data versions of us in that town?" Olette asked, unable to hide her curiosity.

Ansem felt he owed the kids an explanation. "That town was created using Roxas's own memories in Organization XIII as the foundation. He often visited Twilight Town and observed you three from afar. He was envious of the friendship you shared. He longed to have that type of bond. That is why, in the data world, you four were the best of friends."

All three of the Twilight Town kids felt their hearts sink.

"He...wanted to live like us?" Olette muttered softly.

Hayner clenched the orange gem tightly in his fist. "Roxas..."

Pence remembered what the man said earlier in front of the mansion. He wanted to atone. "Well, ya know, Sora is trying to bring him back. We're trying to help him. Maybe you can, too."

Hayner pointed at the transporter. "Here. This transporter is how we can get to the other Twilight Town. Let's go!"

Pence then remembered. "Oh yeah. Ienzo connected this terminal to his and changed the privileges to the transporter. Should we call him first?"

"Ienzo?" Ansem couldn't believe what he heard as he recalled what he told King Mickey.

"I was...obsessed with thoughts of revenge. My apprentices stole everything precious to me—my research, and my pride."

His apprentices are back in Radiant Garden. They have stolen what was most precious to me. My pride. What will I do if I see them again?

Then Hayner responded enthusiastically, "Yeah, he said that the data in that town would help Roxas."

Ansem was a bit surprised to hear that.

"Let's log back in with the password. 'Sea-salt ice cream'," Pence muttered to himself as he typed.

Sea-salt...ice cream...

Ansem remembered now. He used to take walks with Ienzo when he was a small boy. He chose that as his password because those memories...were his most precious.

I'm a fool. That which was most precious to me wasn't my pride. It was little Ienzo. He was most precious to me.

Ansem then turned to the three children. "Your hearts are connected to Roxas's. Those precious memories you shared with him are real. And with those memories, he can be saved." He now wore a proud smile.

Hayner, Pence, and Olette were confused at the sudden shift in his demeanor.

"Children, it is time for me to return home to Ienzo. I will do everything in my power to help him bring Roxas back."

Olette seemed satisfied with that. "Well, I guess we should head back, guys."

"Let's ask Mr. McDuck for more work. We're gonna need some cash to go to the beach. Also, don't forget the pretzels. Gotta buy four now."

Pence tilted his head for a moment when Hayner said 'four,' but he soon figured it out. "Ohh. I get it."

The fourth pretzel had to be for Roxas. "He's thinking ahead." Olette smiled at Pence.

Hayner lifted a hand to wave. "Thanks for your help, uh..."

"Ansem." He smiled as he fully remembered everything from his past. He sat at computer, and hit a few strokes on the keyboard.

Then he stepped inside the transporter.

The trio waved as he disappeared under a beam of light.

Meanwhile, in Ansem the Wise's laboratory, also in Radiant Garden, Ienzo stood deep in thought before a screen, as he often was.

"We've come a long way toward reconstructing Roxas's heart. But a vessel... Without that..." he said to himself, his eyes closed. "Yeah, right. Bodies don't grow on trees, Ienzo. It's the backup plan or nothing now. But...the backup plan isn't a true solution."

Suddenly, there was a loud whirring noise.

Startled, Ienzo spun around just as a man's form digitized before him.

The man stepped out of the gateway.

It was—

"Master Ansem!" Ienzo gasped.

"Ah, well met, little Ienzo," Ansem the Wise said with a gentle smile as he slowly stepped into the lab.

Dilan and Aeleus burst into the room, alarmed by all the commotion.

Ienzo's eyes drifted to the floor, and his shoulders trembled. "They told me you'd gone mad. That you'd abandoned us. I was just a little boy, but I should have known better. I am truly, deeply sorry."

Ansem the Wise quietly placed his hands on Ienzo's shoulders, then lifted the boy's face so he could see his eyes. "I think what matters is that you recognize the mistake. Peace, Ienzo."

Ienzo, Dilan, and Aeleus listened in silence. Then Ienzo looked up.

"It was I who was consumed by hatred—who failed you in my obligations as your mentor. Forgive me."

Ienzo smiled, and even Dilan and Aeleus began to tear up.

"My dear master. You are safe."

Ansem turned around at yet another voice. "Even, is that you?"

Even slowly took a step forward. "I have been waiting for this. For you see, I, too, wish to atone."

As Even got closer, Ansem could see the tears in his eyes.