That evening, Sora was so deep in thought that he didn't even notice anyone was in the living room with him until a sweaty shirt hit him squarely in the face. "You're on my bed," said Riku.

"Ewww, Riku! You're gross." Sora's face contorted in a mock-grimace as he tossed the shirt back to Riku, but nevertheless he obligingly moved from Aeris's threadbare sofa to his makeshift bed on the floor.

"It's not my fault Aeris hasn't ever heard of air conditioning." Riku made sure to wipe up every last bit of his sweat with his shirt before he threw it at Sora once again; this time Sora was expecting the foul-smelling attack and dodged it. "It's almost as hot in here as it is on the Islands, for God's sake."

Aeris popped her head out of the doorway to her bedroom. "Air conditioning is bad for the environment!" she called out. "Open a window if you're too hot!" The door slammed shut with a bang, followed by Aeris's muffled apology for closing it too loudly.

Grumbling under his breath about how the environment needed to cooperate more and was overrated anyway, Riku padded barefoot across the room and flung open the window while Sora followed his friend's example and removed his shirt as well. Riku plopped down on the sofa, wincing a little as he landed too hard on his left side. "You know, I've never seen you think so hard before in your life, Sora," he said, tucking his hands behind his head. He glanced at Sora, his brow slightly furrowed with worry. "This Nobody stuff's really bugging you, isn't it?"

Sora didn't answer right away. He laid back on his pillow and absently scratched his bare chest, his fingers leaving faint red marks on his skin. "Yeah... It's like..." He rubbed his face as he struggled to find the right words. "It's like, it bothers me, and it bothers Roxas too. And the fact that it bothers Roxas bothers me. You know?"

"MPD," Riku muttered, staring at the ceiling.

"Huh?"

"MPD – Multiple Personality Disorder. It's when a person's identity splits into several personalities, even though they're really all just aspects of one person. Kinda like what you have going on." Riku twisted his head to look at Sora and flashed a roguish grin. "Except you're not crazy, mostly."

Sora stuck out his tongue. "You're so full of it, Riku."

"What? It's a legitimate idea! We could try hypnotizing you, see if Roxas comes out to play. I've seen it in the movies."

"No way!" Sora chucked his pillow at Riku, hitting him right on his scars.

Riku flinched and inhaled sharply through his teeth. "Oh yeah. Thanks for reminding me." He reached down and dug around in his pack for a few seconds before retrieving a small bottle of white pills.

"You're such a druggie," Sora teased as Riku downed two of the tablets dry.

"Psh. The main reason I still take these is because I need to fall asleep before you do – otherwise your snoring keeps me up all night."

"What?" Sora propped himself up on his elbows and glared at Riku indignantly. "I do not snore!"

"How the hell would you know? You're asleep when you do it!"

The door to Aeris's bedroom burst open, but this time Kairi stood in the doorway. Sora and Riku's heads snapped towards her, then away just as quickly as they busily tried to ignore what she had apparently forgotten: that she was wearing nothing more than a camisole and her underwear. "You know, some of us are trying to sleep here," she growled, though the poorly-suppressed grin on her face showed she wasn't terribly annoyed. "Don't make me come out there and teach you two a lesson."

Sora and Riku glanced at each other with identical bemused expressions. "Umm... we're sorry?" Sora ventured, stealing a glance despite himself.

"You'd better be," Kairi replied, looking as dangerous as she could manage while trying not to giggle. "Just don't do it again, okay?"

Riku sighed like an exasperated teenage son. "Yes, mother."

Kairi laughed and closed the door, adding, "I'm serious, guys!" right before it shut all the way.

The room was dark now, save for the faint orange glow of a streetlamp down the way. Sora sighed and shifted into as comfortable a position as he could on the floor, but could only stare up at the ceiling. Discomfort was only part of the reason why. "...Hey, Riku?" he finally whispered.

"Mmh?" Riku replied, not opening his eyes.

"Do... do you think we could find a way to Kingdom Hearts again?"

Riku's eyes snapped open and fixed on Sora. "Don't even think about it, Sora," he warned.

"About what?"

"You know exactly what. You want to find Kingdom Hearts so you can see Axel again and... apologize to him, or whatever it is you want to do."

Pouting a little that Riku had discerned his motives so easily, Sora folded his arms across his chest. "Well, why shouldn't I try it?"

"Because the last time Kingdom Hearts was opened, Heartless almost took over all the worlds."

"But that was Ans- that was Xehanort! It's not like I'm going to do anything evil!"

Riku sighed and rubbed his eyes in an attempt to stave off the drowsiness brought on by the drug. "Sora, think for a minute. First you'd have to gather up all the Princesses of Heart again. Then you'd need to figure out a way to open the portal without messing with their hearts like Maleficent and Xehanort did." He propped himself up on one elbow to look at Sora better, gesturing with his free hand as he spoke. "Now, if you managed to do all that and reach Kingdom Hearts, and if what Ansem believed is even true – which we don't know for sure – it's not like you can just waltz in there, sweep Axel off his feet, and come out again without a problem."

"Why not?"

Letting out a strangled growl of frustration, Riku collapsed back onto the sofa and covered his face with one hand. "It just doesn't work like that, Sora!"

"...But... but you got out okay, didn't you?"

There was a long pause before Riku finally answered in a voice so quiet, Sora had to strain to hear it. "...More or less."

Sora lay silently on his back for a while, brow furrowed, as he tried to interpret Riku's words. Finally, he turned to look at his friend. "What do you mean, 'more or less,' Riku? ...Riku?"

Riku didn't respond. Whether he was actually asleep or just pretending, Sora couldn't tell. It didn't really make a difference anyway, he supposed. Still troubled over his friend's words, Sora lay awake for a while – he had no idea how long – before he finally fell into a deep, dreamless sleep.

The next morning, Sora awoke to the sight of a large beak inches from his face. "Gaah!" he yelped, raising his arms in a protective reflex.

"Surprise!" Donald said with grin, completely oblivious to Sora's brief moment of panic. "Today's your lucky day, Sora!"

Sora rubbed the sleep from his eyes and blinked drowsily in the morning light. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Riku awake and stiffly rise to a sitting position, looking around in mild confusion. "...It is?"

"Uh-huh!" Folding his arms knowingly, Donald nodded. "Wanna know why?"

"Um... yeah."

"We're gonna take ya on a grand tour of Radiant Garden!" Goofy interrupted as he entered the room from the kitchen. "After all, it's changed a lot since y'were last here."

Utterly confused, Sora shot Riku a questioning glance, which Riku responded to with a shrug; he was just as lost as Sora. "Um, wow!" Sora exclaimed, flashing a grin. "Thanks a lot, guys! ...Why?"

"Well," Goofy said, putting a finger on his chin and rolling his eyes towards the ceiling, "the King figured ya needed somethin' to get yer mind off all that depressin' Nobody stuff."

Donald nodded knowingly and added with a wink, "Yep, and we've got strict orders from the King – you've gotta have fun!"

Riku made a "you've gotta be kidding me" noise in the back of his throat, but Sora had to smile. After all, even though this was a gesture of apology from the King, his friends were doing it out of the goodness of their hearts. Even though he'd been something of a jerk to them, they were still willing to go out of their way to cheer him up... Sora swept Donald and Goofy up in a massive hug. "Thank you so much, guys. You two are the best!"

Goofy hyuked and Donald chortled as Kairi, already fully awake and dressed, entered the room. "Hope you guys don't mind that we didn't wake you up when Donald and Goofy arrived," she said. "You two were sleeping so deeply."

Sora just smiled and Riku waved dismissively. "This way we're surprised," Sora said, releasing his friends and rising to his feet. Kairi happily returned the smile.

"And when we're done," Goofy added, "we'll take ya on home."

Sora's smile faltered a little bit. He should have expected as much – and he promised his mother he'd be home soon, anyway. Still, he was never one to give up on a quest readily. There had to be something he could do! But he remembered Riku's words from the night before, and he realized that he was hard-pressed for options other than giving up and going home.