"Watching Riku beat the life out of Sora sure was fun. I hope there will be more of that in the future. It's been pretty boring around here, but that was entertaining."

"I'm sure it was. Well, I've gotta go. Stuff to do," said Zexion, turning and walking down the hall.

"See ya later then, Zexy," said Axel, going the opposite direction. A voice yelled after him, "Don't call me that!" Axel smirked to himself. As he meandered along down the hallway, he noticed an open door. 'Laska's room…' He knocked on it--quietly this time--but there was no answer. He silently stepped inside and saw her standing by an open window that let in a chilling draft. The moonlight glowed on her silver robe and pale skin. She seemed to almost evanesce into the moonlight-except for her tightly curled auburn hair. He took another step, one that she heard. Laska turned around, her robe swishing around her. Her brilliant starlit eyes gleamed with smooth silver moonfire.

"Laska?" he said slowly, finally grasping the concept that it was actually her. She frowned slightly.
"Don't you ever knock?"
"I did."
"Oh. Sorry." She immediately looked regretful and turned away, facing the window once again. "It's cold," she whispered.

"Then close the window," said Axel caustically. When she inhaled sharply, he immediately regretted the comment.

"It's not that…" she choked out, fists clenched and breathing uneven. Axel recoiled at her anger, knowing full well how powerful she was. Ghostly tendrils of magic rose out of the floor and crept towards him. The rest of the room grew darker; he was trapped.

"…it's my heart." She relaxed instantly, and the strands of power vanished. As the moon became blotted out by inky darkness, a single crystalline tear fell from her eye. It echoed solemnly in the stillness, and Axel froze.

"Why did I get rid of the memories…I'm losing more of it every day…soon I won't even remember him…" She had muttered most of the sentence, but upon reaching the last word, her voice cracked and she began sobbing and crying uncontrollably. Laska, usually so calm and lighthearted, collapsed on the floor and cried. Axel had no earthly idea what was happening, even though he could see what was going on. The small triangles by his eyes glowed brightly, giving him night vision. Laska's tears were tinted acid green, and everything in the room was in varying shades of hunter. Wisps of magic crawled out of the floorboards once more, but these surrounded Laska and protected her. Even from Axel, who, in a desperate sort of way, wanted to help. Suddenly filled with frustration, he turned and briskly walked out, leaving Laska to her tears.

"I still can't believe it!" shouted Sora, pacing back and forth across the marble floor. His eyes showed concern and confusion, but he acted extremely angry. "Can't believe what?" asked Donald. "That Riku thinks I forgot about him. I don't know how he came up with that," he continued, never breaking stride. "Y'know, if you keep pacing like that, you'll wear a hole in the floor," said Goofy.

"I remember when you did that," snickered Donald.
"Aw, that only happened once!" he replied. Sora stopped for a moment and watched them shout back and forth before tuning it out and returning to pacing.
"There's gotta be something we can do. I can't just leave him like this."
"Don't worry Sora," said Goofy, breaking off from the argument with Donald momentarily.
"We'll do whatever it takes to get your friend back."
"That's right. We're friends! We stay together, no matter what," quipped Donald.
"You're right. Friendship is the greatest strength we have," said Sora, looking up with a glimmer of hope in his eyes.