When he "died" his heart, body and soul were scattered. The light his mother called upon shielded him from the instant death of the curse, at the cost of her own life.

Soul became filled with light, and soon attracted Body. Heart vanished away, hidden from Darkness until it was able to reclaim it.

But that time never came.

Soul and Body were split apart, leaving fragments of what had been whole. Until they were reunited at the end, before they were lost again.

Heart remained hidden, safely tucked away in the form of a child waiting to be found.

Then the child was split, as Heart and Body became separated.

They were soon reunited, but the hidden Heart seized upon the chance and took over the newly formed Body.

His name...was Roxas.

Three years later...

Naminé was looking at Roxas, Sora's Nobody. Except near the end she started finding memories that almost certainly didn't belong to Sora at all. Because of that, she kept them to the side until she could figure out who they belonged to.

Seeing his face, she was beginning to suspect the odd memories belonged to the heart inside Roxas.

"Roxas... there is another path for you to take, if you're brave enough to try. When I was restoring Sora's memories, I started to find ones that didn't belong to Sora at all. I think they're your memories."

"My memories?"

"From long before you were part of Organization XIII, or possibly before you were Roxas. If you can remember, then you won't have to go away."

"That's enough. I don't know what nonsense you're filling his head with, but it ends now," said Diz.

Naminé had told him repeatedly that Roxas might not being a Nobody, but he refused to listen. All Diz knew or cared about was that Roxas had Sora's missing memories, and that they had to be returned...even if Roxas himself disappeared.

"Remember?" said Roxas, confused.

Hearing Naminé's words seemed to spark a resonance inside him. Unseen by everyone, one of the empty pods started to fill up with something.

Something human.

When he was hit with the memories of how Diz manipulated him, and how he ended up in this fake town, Roxas felt anger. He had been manipulated left and right from day one, and he hated it. He didn't want to be the pawn anymore. Every time he went along with it, he ended up losing someone close to him.

He was tired of being used, and losing those important to him.

What was he supposed to remember?

Destroying the console was easy. Getting hit with the memories, not so much. And like Naminé said, there were some that he knew instinctively didn't belong to Sora.

There weren't really memories, but flashes of faces.

The first set were just a pair of young faces, a man and a girl with blue hair. It was the second set that hit him the hardest.

Three men and a woman with vibrant green eyes. Their faces were fuzzy, but their memories struck the hardest. Enough to unlock a name from the first set of memories.

"Ventus," whispered Roxas, not knowing who that was or why that name was so important. But if the first set of memories hit him hard, then just remembering that name hit him even harder. Enough that he knew what he had to do.

He had to find Sora and fix this mess before the threads got tangled even further.

Roxas ignored the digital copy, once he realized what it was. Rather than give all his memories to Sora, he instinctively knew he had to return the memories without losing himself.

"What are you doing?" said Diz, his voice laced with anger. Roxas was supposed to just disappear into Sora, and that was it.

"Making a choice for myself. Possibly for the first time in a very long time," said Roxas cryptically.

Roxas started to glow from an internal light. Something resonated within Sora, causing him to glow as well.

"What are you doing?! Stop that at once!"

Roxas ignored him. In the hall with the memory pods, a body twitched ever so slightly.

If one were to have looked closely, they'd mistaken him for Roxas, save for the clothing. He looked young, almost the same age as Sora himself. There was a strange armor piece on his left shoulder.

Suddenly, a keyblade formed in his hand...and in the hand of Roxas.

Diz recognized it immediately, despite never having met the owner personally.

"Ventus. That's impossible!"

Heart, Body, and Soul resonated for the first time since it was rent asunder.

Sora's memories flowed through Roxas, as the leftover fragments belonging to Ventus flowed back through Roxas and into the pod outside.

"You're lucky Sora. It looks like my long dream is finally ending," said Roxas. He disappeared...as the heart and soul returned to the body outside.

"Sora!"

"Sora!"

Blue eyes awakened slowly, as he realized that his friends were waiting for him outside. When the pod opened, Sora was quick to embrace them.

It was when they went to find out where they were that it happened. They were passing a long line of pods in the hall...when one of them suddenly split open.

"There was someone else here!" said Sora, in shock.

"Ow. I didn't think regaining everything would hurt this bad, but maybe it just needs time to settle," said the teen, wincing.

He looked up to see Sora's face.

"Yo."

"Uh... hi?" said Sora, confused.

"Who are you?" demanded Donald.

The teen sat down, before rubbing the back of his head in a familiar manner. He had bright green eyes and the stance of a warrior.

"I can't really remember. Or was it that everything was erased by accident? Call me Roxas. Roxas Windheart... I guess."

"Roxas... Windheart?" said Sora. Why did the name Roxas sound so familiar?

"How did you end up in one of them there pods?" asked Goofy.

"I was forced into a sleep for a really long time. Then something happened, and my Heart started calling me again. I must have followed it, and ended up in there. But now that I'm awake, I can find the others!" said Roxas cheerfully.

"Others?"

"Aqua, Terra...and Axel too! I'm sure they're all really worried about me," said Roxas.

"Hey, we're trying to find some friends of ours too! Maybe we should team up for a while!" said Sora.

Roxas grinned, and followed them above ground.

It was when the strange silver creatures appeared that things took a turn for the weird.

Sora and the others tried to fight them, but were still waking up. The silver creature went to attack, but was blocked by a sword.

"Huh. So you're a Keyblade Wielder, too, right Sora?" said Roxas.

"EH?!"

Roxas moved like the wind, and to add on top of that image, he even used wind-spells against the silver creatures.

"No way! You're a Keyblade wielder like Sora?" said Donald in shock.

"His name is Ventus," said a voice from above.

"Your Majesty!"

King Mickey was giving Roxas an odd look.

"I wasn't aware they found your heart, Ventus. Last time I saw you, you were still sleeping," he said.

"It's Roxas Windheart now. And they didn't do anything. Naminé accidentally woke me up when she found my memories," said Roxas.

"I see. He'll want to have a talk with you as well, so you should probably board the train with the others," said Mickey.

"I'll keep that in mind, but I'm tired of being pulled around like a marionette on a string. If I don't like something, I'm going to leave," Roxas warned him.

Roxas recognized the trio who saw them off, and he could see Sora was still affected by the remnants of his memories.

It looked like they were still connected.

Roxas didn't really care about meeting Master Yen Sid. At least until he started talking about Nobodies. Then he got angry.

"Hey, where are you going?" said Sora, noticing Roxas was heading to the door outside.

"I'm not going to stand here while you treat Nobodies like they aren't people. Just because they have faded emotions doesn't mean they have no heart," said Roxas angrily.

"You speak as if you know of them personally...Ventus," said Master Yen Sid.

"You and Diz, you're both alike. You're perfectly content to dismiss Nobodies like they're nothing more than pawns, and refuse to see the truth," said Roxas.

"The truth?"

"Heartless embody the Heart of a person...but have you ever wondered why Nobodies exist?"

"They are the remnants of those with strong wills given life when a person's heart is taken," said Yen Sid, as if it were common knowledge.

Roxas shook his head.

"'A strong Soul resides in a strong Body and Heart,'" he said, paraphrasing something he'd read a long time ago. "But what happens when the balance is disturbed, and one of the three is lost or taken?"

"Balance?" said Sora.

"Heartless only target the heart, the center of emotions and the core of all memories. That much is true. However Nobodies are different, especially the Greater Nobodies like Organization XIII. They are the containers of the Soul, and they still hold the echoes of their hearts. That's why whenever a heartless and their Nobody is taken out, the person who was taken by Darkness remembers everything about their time as a Nobody."

"Which is why they must be taken out," said Yen Sid.

Roxas' glare cut him off short.

"And what exactly do you know of the Keyblade Wielder Ventus? Because from what I can tell, you didn't know the truth about him at all," said Roxas coldly.

"I only know what Master Eraqus told me before his passing. That you were brought by the former Master Xenahort and had no memories," said Yen Sid. Roxas' anger was practically radiating off him at the name Xenahort, but he got it under control.

"That was because Ventus was the Nobody. His Soul, Heart and Body were separated before he even meet Xenahort, and what that fake master did only made it worse. If not for Sora, he would have died."

"Me?" said Sora, confused.

"Ventus was taken to Destiny Islands to die peacefully, but his heart connected to yours. It was enough to draw his heart to yours, where it laid dormant until you became a heartless, however temporarily. So when your Nobody formed, the heart went to him instead. If not for Naminé, it might have accidentally been lost."

"Wait, so you're..."

"My name is Roxas Windheart. I was originally your Nobody with the Heart and Soul of Ventus," said Roxas, putting his hands behind his head like Sora often did.

Yen Sid looked hard at Roxas.

"It would seem that we still have a lot to learn about Nobodies. I apologize if I offended you Roxas."

"At least you cared enough to apologize. Diz was willing to discard Naminé like she wasn't even a person," said Roxas with a growl. If he saw that man again he'd punch him in the face.

"...I'll have a word with him the next time I see him. For now, you two need some new clothes if you're going to help the worlds."

A few minutes later...

Roxas looked at his new clothes. Fortunately it seemed the special coat carried on to his new outfit, even if it became more of a special cloak around his shoulders. It had a silvery sheen to it, and when he flipped the hood up and closed the cloak, he heard a yelp from Sora and the others.

"I'm invisible!" said Roxas.

"We didn't add that," said Merryweather, confused.

"I've never seen a cloak like that before," said Fauna.

"Wonder where it came from," said Flora.

"I just hope it still works like my coat did," said Roxas.

"Gawsh, that cloak seems mighty useful!" said Goofy.

"Not really. It only hides me from sight. I bet it doesn't do anything about smell, sound or touch," said Roxas.

Roxas took one look at the Gummi ship, and shook his head.

"I have my own way of getting around, and I might get in your way. But if you need help, use this to call me," said Roxas, handing Sora a key-chain. On one side was the symbol for "Wind" in Japanese, with the sign of the Nobodies on the back. Sora put it in his pouch, where he kept all the other key-chains before.

"Good luck finding your friends," said Sora.

"You two. If I see Riku I'll let you know," said Roxas. He opened a corridor and started walking, after flipping the hood up.

Roxas exited in a familiar town.

Hollow Bastion.

"Might as well stock up if I can," he muttered.

He was about to find a store that sold potions when something slammed into him. It took him a few seconds to realize it was a Moogle.

"Roxas! You're back, kupo!"

Roxas blinked.

"Shadow? Is that you?"

The Moogle who served Organization XIII, but left with Roxas shortly before he was kidnapped by Diz. He had told Roxas his name right before it happened.

"Why are you in Hollow Bastion? I thought you stayed in Twilight Town?"

Shadow shook his head.

"Things got a bit too hectic for me there after you disappeared. One of my cousins offered me a ride, so I came here, kupo."

"Well at least I know you're safe. I decided to come to Hollow Bastion to stock up so I can find Axel," said Roxas.

"I'll come with you, kupo! Never know when you might need an experienced Black mage, kupo!"

"Really?"

Shadow nodded.

"Was trying to earn my way into learning Time magic when I found my calling with potions and being a merchant, kupo. Still bought books on magic though, so I'm useful in combat, kupo," said Shadow.

"That's great! Hey, who knows, if we find some rare ingredients I'll be sure to help you collect them to experiment with!" said Roxas.

"Adventures always work better with teams, kupo!" said Shadow enthusiastically. "Besides, I'm still trying to earn enough to buy a Gummi Ship, kupo. Cid is surprisingly stingy, kupo."

Roxas snickered.

"So what do I call you in public? If they find out you're alive them might try to track you down, kupo," said Shadow.

"Well my name is Roxas Windheart, but if we have to go undercover call me Ventus," said Roxas.

"Got it, kupo!"

It was then that he saw something.

"So it looks like I ended up beating Sora here after all. Why do I have the feeling this is going to be something that happens a lot?"