Kingdom Hearts Keyblade Legion

by lyokoMARVELanime

Sequel to Dual Keys. Sora, Donald, Goofy return to the worlds after an event that caused them to have their memories modified, and they're off on a new adventure with Ven. But this time they've some new friends with them. Can Roxas and Xion help to save the worlds from this new evil group? Is there some deeper mystery surrounding the two siblings? Find out along with the new team.

3. Summer Vacation: Day 3

AN: Okay, this took a little bit longer than I originally thought, and ended up being a longer chapter than originally expected too, but either way, the chapter's done, and we're now rolling on in with Day 3 of Roxas and Xion's summer vacation, which doubles as chapter 3 of Keyblade Legion!

[audience applause]

Xion: So, are we going to answer reviews, or just get right into the chapter, 'cause you have a tendency to go with the latter when you think the chapter's really long.

AN: Don't worry, don't worry. We'll answer a few reviews first. I don't see the harm in it. Where do we start though?

Roxas: How about with "Haxorus Knight"? Namely his question about the Keyblade armor mechs?

AN: Eh, sure why not? To keep it simple, while the idea is intriguing, there's just no place for it in this story. Maybe another one later down the line of the series, but in this case, we won't be seeing anything like that. Next!

Sora: Hey! How about this one from "Dragon Rider 66"?

AN: What the-?! Sora! Shouldn't you be sleeping or something right now?

Sora: That's just in the main story! No one said I can't show up in these things now. Besides, I'm bored out of my mind!

AN: Then go make out with Kairi or something! It's too soon for you to be making a debut!

Sora&Kairi: [blush scarlet red]

AN: Ahem! Anyways, to answer the question posed in said review, I'm afraid that any more information regarding the Keyblades that Roxas and Xion wield will be kept under wraps until we get to the chapter when it will be unveiled for all to see.

Let's roll it on over to "theIrishWriter", regarding his question of Roxas and Xion's guardian and the involvement of other characters. First off, the guardian is really more of a thing that was just planted in their heads to help with the illusion that they're living in, but if it were an actual person, I would say that it would most likely be either Ventus, DiZ, or even both. The two may not like each other, but they are willing to support the kids like a proper parental figure as long as they have too. DiZ begrudgingly so.

DiZ: You make it seem like I'm such a villain.

AN: Because from a few different perspectives, you technically are. I mean, look what you did to Roxas and ordered Riku to do to Naminé.

DiZ:...Fair enough. But at least I'm attempting to atone for my mistakes unlike other individuals.

AN: Now, on the matter of Tidus, Wakka, and Selphie's involvement, there's currently no real plans beyond what we saw in canon for them at this time. Last time it was easy to get them involved, since Destiny Islands had fallen to darkness, in the first story, but this time there's no real way for them to really get involved without someone going to Destiny Islands and picking them up, or some other crazy magic with a few side effects coming into play. At least, not as far as I can see right now.

Roxas: Hey, here's a good one from "Ronin Warriors Fanatic". The matter of the Lingering Will fight.

AN: Right...well to be honest, I had not really thought about including it too much, mainly because it's hard to really find a place to integrate it into the main story, so I wouldn't really hold my breath on that right now. Maybe that will change later on down the line, and I'll at least mention it happening in an epilogue or something, but for now...it's still up in the air. It does have a more likely chance of showing up than Tidus, Wakka, and Selphie getting more involved with the main story at the moment though, so there's that.

Now let's get on over to the review left by our old buddy "Monkey D. Conan", starting with his questions about Sora's Keyblade. While I do agree that the Fenrir Keyblade is cool, I feel that it looks a little too much like the new Keyblade that Riku will be getting in Kingdom Hearts 3, so I don't think that I'll be using it as the evolved form of Kingdom Key, assuming there's a Keyblade out there that could count as that. Although, I don't think I ever really noticed how the Kingdom Key looked small next to Sora in KH2 (and I have been playing through the game again recently just for the sake of improving my focus on this story), so I feel like I would've noticed by now. He'll still be using Kingdom Key for the most part, but I can guarantee that it'll be properly adjusted to Sora's recent growth spurt.

Moving along to your question about Aqua and her Keyblade. For now, I can confirm that she is still using Master's Defender, but as for whether or not she'll be getting back her original Keyblade and armor...sorry, not telling! Yet.

Regarding your question about when Roxas and Xion will meet Ventus (or more accurately, when they will meet him again), I can say it will be before they leave the virtual world, but it won't be until some of the very last moments there. As for the memories they get back...well, let's just say that it won't really seem like too much to anyone really, and that will be a bit of a problem for everyone that will need to be resolved later on down the line. As for your question about how the young Keyblade Warriors/Warriors-to-be are stacked up when it comes to specialties of powers, well...that's a little hard for me to really pin down if we're going into specifics on those abilities you listed. If I had to guess, I'd say that Roxas most excels at swordplay, physical abilities, Command Styles, and probably flowmotion, while his magic is just good enough for him to rely on it when he really needs to; Riku's good with swordplay, decent with flowmotion, mainly focuses on the variety of magic he knows best, and physical abilities, while his Command Style and Shotlock abilities are not that great due to being mostly self-taught, unlike the other four; Xion's good in swordplay, various magic, and flowmotion, while being relatively decent with Command Styles and Shotlocks; Kairi's main specialty is magic and other similar abilities like that, while being just decent enough with swordplay, but has an impressive handle on flowmotion to help make up for that and enhance it; and Sora is a little bit of everything, with his Shotlocks being slightly better than Command Style abilities, due to the fact that he tends to only excel with his personal Command Styles more than any of the others. Just to be clear, this is only off the top of my head as I'm writing this response down, and it could easily change over time, so you'll just have to wait and see how things unfold to know for sure about that.

Ventus: I think there's a couple of guest reviews that you wanted to answer too, right?

AN: Yes, first off to the "Guest" from 9/26/2018 who asked about Aqua's status at this time, sorry, but I can't say what happened to Aqua just yet, but I will say that we will see her again...in the next chapter.

Ventus: Yes! [punches the air in victory]

AN: [rolls eyes at Ven in good humor] And as for the "Guest" of 9/26/2018, who commented on Ven rocking the Thor beard, there's actually a huge difference between that and Aqua getting a haircut. See in Aqua's case, the longer hair just did not work for her at all, a fact that she herself acknowledged but did not want to deal with while they were in the midst of stopping the crisis in Keyblades of Future Past. Meanwhile, Ven's beard serves more of a purpose in that it better shows that he's grown up a lot since the age of BBS, and also helps to better differentiate him from Roxas. Sure, it helps that Ven's taller, and has put on a little more muscle since that time, but something as noticeable as a beard really helps to finalize the physical differences between the two. Besides that, I just think that Ven is the type who would look good with a beard, and who would grow one out when he grew up because he thought as much.

Well, that's a wrap on review answers, so let's get on with the excitement we have in store for you guys, and Roxas and Xion for today! Summer Vacation Day 3 is here, everybody!

I do not own anything from Kingdom Hearts or any other franchise mentioned in this story.

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Chapter III

Another night meant another dream for the twins, and like always, unknown to one another, they were both seeing visions of the boy Sora and his three friends, Donald, Goofy, and Ventus. However, just like the previous night, the visions they would see this time would be different, as they would also include a few other visions as well beyond just the story of Sora and the others. Yes, they would also be seeing something that looked like they had lived another life at some point that they could not remember, but for Roxas, there would be one other thing as well. Tonight, he would also be seeing something that would change his life in ways that he could not have imagined before.

---

"As a Keybearer, you must already know, be it because of your master's teaching or even your travels, one must not meddle in the affairs of other worlds," King Triton of Atlantica scolded, while a disheartened looking Ven floated behind him.

"I know what you're thinking, Sora, but you can't let that get to you," Ventus tried to tell the kid at some point after Triton had left. "Not everyone is going to be appreciative of our actions, and some will even call us the bad guys simply because they misunderstood our intentions, or even for no real reason at all beyond needing someone to blame for their troubles, but if we let the harsh words of others affect our judgment, then we might as well just throw in the towel now." The scene shifted again in its usual bit of a bad television picture, this time to show that King Triton was hurt, but was smiling in relief and showing that he was not really as upset over the Keybearers' presence as he had made it seem, while Ventus was giving Sora an important lesson "It doesn't matter what anyone else says, be it our enemies, our friends, or even a random stranger. They don't decide who you are; you do, and not by words alone, but by our choices and the actions we take. Even if an entire world hates us, we can never let that stop us from doing our duty as Keyblade wielders. Or Keyblade wielders who fight for what is truly good and right for the worlds at least."

Sora let all of that sink in for a minute until he finally managed to let a true smile cross his face, and said, "I understand, Ven."

The scene shifted again to the inside of a grotto, where a redhead mermaid then let out a small sigh as she added, "So many places I want to see…I know I'll get there someday. I'll find a way somehow. I'm sure of it."

"Good," Ventus smiled, surprising Ariel a little. She had thought that he was going to tell her to forget about it or something, but from the smile the blonde was wearing, which matched the one that Sora was giving her, he really meant it. "Never even think about giving up on your dreams, Ariel, because as long as you believe in them, anything can become possible."

The scene shifted once more, as it showed the four standing before a massive, muscular man and a short, chubby looking satyr, and it looked like the satyr was reading off an official declaration of some kind. "Thus, I do hereby dub thee junior heroes…"

"Hey! What do you mean 'junior heroes,'" Donald demanded, heatedly.

"You three rookies still don't understand what it takes to be a true hero," Phil waved off as he stowed away the paper, knowing he would not be likely to get any further in his speech.

It then showed Ventus looking down at Sora as he explained, "There's a lot more to being a true hero or a Keyblade Wielder in general, let alone a master than just being a strong fighter."

The scene then shifted once again, as the view changed to show an Arabian man sitting inside of a rundown building as he slowly raised his head and began to speak, while Sora, Ven, Donald, and Goofy seemed to look on with baited breathes. "I…I wish…for your freedom, Genie."

Genie had made a show of rolling up his nonexistent sleeves as he prepared to grant what he thought would be Aladdin's wish, until it registered that the kid had not said what he had been expecting him to say. "What? Al," Genie gasped.

A moment later, everyone watched a twister of magic erupted from the lamp, swirling around Genie at a rapid pace that most of them could only equate it to the lights of an incredible meteor shower on a moonlit night. When the twister finally came to an end, it did so in an eruption that revealed Genie's lower half had changed from being a ghostly tail to a pair of long blue legs with brown, pointed shoes, and shortly afterwards, the gold bracelets he wore on his wrists snapped off and vanished in a flash of light, revealing that they were more akin to cuffs than they were bracelets. By the time Genie's latest transformation had been completed, the lamp had dropped down to the floor with a loud clatter, indicating that its power was now gone, and prompting Genie to slowly bend down and pick it up himself, just to confirm for himself that it no longer had any power over him.

When he did not sense anything coming from the lamp, he could not help but laugh a little as he whispered, "I'm free…I'm free!"

The scene then shifted again to show a tall skeleton in a metal room looking rather sad "Sally, why didn't I listen to you," the skeleton moaned to a girl that looked like she had been stitched together and then given. Out of everyone there, he owed Sally the greatest apology of all. She had tried to tell him that using the Heartless was a bad idea, and yet he had just brushed it off as needless worrying.

Sally on the other hand just smiled, glad to see that the skeleton now knew better about his old plans, and quickly grasped his hand in reassurance as she said, "Don't feel bad, Jack. We'll come up with another plan for Halloween. Next time, we'll do it together."

The scene then shifted once more to show Sora holding up a small object above his head, before he shouted out, "Summon!"

When the summoning spell began, the whole area immediately around Sora became engulfed in hot, ash-filled smoke that made it hard to really see anything that was inside. That alone was reason enough for the mystery man to pause and attempt to figure out what Sora could be planning while he was behind this little smoke screen. A minute later, a large, red dragon head seemed to rise up from the smoke, glaring down on the mystery man as it growled, until finally, it lost its silhouette and revealed a dragon with large eyes, red skin, and a yellow-orange belly. "Tremble in fear, for the mighty Mushu lives," the dragon roared loudly. He then grinned savagely as he added, "So tell me who's looking to get a face full of my fire and dragon fury. You just say the word, and I'm there."

"HEY," Sora shouted, putting an end to Mushu's show of ferocity just as the dragon was starting to snarl dangerously. "Are you really a dragon?"

"Yes, of course, kid. What do you think I am," Mushu demanded hotly. "And if you say lizard, I'm gonna have to get my dragon dandruff up! I don't do that tongue thing."

"Well it's just…You're…Tiny," Sora finally said. Indeed, Mushu was in fact very small, to the point where he only reached Sora's knee at most when standing up straight.

"Of course! I'm travel-size for your convenience. If I was my real size everyone in here would die of fright," Mushu explained, sounding more than a tad bit boastful near the end.

The scene then shifted again, showing Sora and the others standing in the same world where the four first met, while Sora was shown using another summon charm. This time though, a masked man in red and blue with a spider emblem on his back and chest swung down on a web-line, while snagging several Heartless as he went. "Can you give us a hand," Sora asked the man.

"You don't even have to ask. I mean, this does look like a job for your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man, after all," the masked man nodded, and he was soon spinning and swinging into action a second later.

"What kind of place is your world," Ven could be heard asking as several more scenes of Spider-Man in action played before the mind's eye.

"Well, let's just say that it's one that's full of marvels," Spider-Man shrugged, and he immediately swung down from his current perch to his next target.

Another scene came in, this time with Ven using a summoning charm, and from it, came a young, alien-looking woman with dark orange skin, brownish-gray lips, and bright blue eyes that seemed to burn with unbridled courage, while upon her head was not hair, but what appeared to be some type of horns that were white with blue stripes, and extended down to her shoulders. Her attire consisted of a burgundy top with a decorative hole in the front, dark grey leggings with diamonds cut into the sides, three armbands on each arm, dark combat boots and gloves, and crossed belts that held what looked like two silver hilts. The most shocking thing about this young woman was when she levitated the two hilts into her hands, and then activated them to reveal that they were a pair of energy swords, one full-length green blade and the other being a shorter yellow blade. With both of her sabers activated, the woman then made of show of spinning the two swords around in her hands before holding the yellow saber in front of her while the green blade was in the back, both in a reverse grip, similar to what Ventus used when he fought with his Keyblade.

"A Jedi! An actual Jedi," Ventus gasped in awe.

The scene then shifted to show the Jedi smiling at the group, as she said, "I appreciate the compliment, Keyblade Master, but I'm actually not a Jedi yet. My name's Ahsoka Tano, Padawan Learner to Jedi Knight Anakin Skywalker."

The scene shifted once more to show the gang in Traverse Town again, at a moment when Ven gave Sora quite the shocking revelation. "Sora, when we first met I was able to sense a powerful light within you. That's normal, seeing as you had just gained a Keyblade, but there was more to it than that. There was another light in your heart; one that was far too powerful to only be from your own, and it didn't have a trace of darkness in it. The light that can only come from the heart of a Princess of Heart."

"Are you saying that Sora has a Princess of Heart's heart inside of him," Donald asked.

"That's exactly what I'm saying," Ventus confirmed. "I wasn't really sure who it could have been though, but after hearing about his friend from him, I figured that there was a chance that it could be…" Once again, the sentence was cut off before a name could be given, while the faint image of a girl with red hair flashed briefly in the mind's eye, and did so again when there was another interruption in the next part of Ven's revelation. "Your friend…is not only a Princess of Heart, she's also inside of your heart, or at least her heart is."

"Her heart…is…inside of me," Sora stuttered in shock. "But…how…when…why?"

"I only know the answer to that first question, Sora, but only because it's the obvious one," Ventus tried to lightly joke, but his face became serious once again. "I think that, when your islands fell to darkness, her heart somehow found its way inside of you so that it could take shelter.

"Her body is out there somewhere, and from an outside perspective, one would think that she was in a sleep-like comatose state. That means she's vulnerable to anything and everything, and if we want to even attempt to restore her heart to her body, we need to find it first."

"And after we do that, we'd still need to keep her safe after putting her heart back where it belongs," Sora finished.

"Exactly," Ventus nodded.

The scene shifted again to show Riku standing before the group, looking rather smug in a dangerous way as he asked, "Or are you too cool to play them now that you have the Keyblade?"

"Riku! Wh-what are you doing here," Sora asked before another image of the red haired girl appeared over the scene for a brief time. "Did you find any clues about her?"

The scene shifted again to show Ventus battling it out against a pirate with a black beard and a hook for a left hand, dressed in red, until said pirate backed Ventus into a corner. "What's the matter, is the poor little master not able to fly away," the pirate mocked. "Not that it's surprising. The poor little boy doesn't have any true happy thoughts left to carry him up and away, so maybe Riku was right to say that you're not a real master. Just a scared little boy playing pretend."

"You be quiet! Ven's got plenty of happy thoughts, and we're all standing right here," Donald snapped at the pirate.

"Yeah, after all, we're some of Ven's bestest buddies, and we're not gonna let him try to handle anything on his own if there's something we can do to help him," Goofy hollered in agreement.

"Besides Ven, don't you remember what I told you before? Aqua's okay and close to finding a way back," Sora reminded his master. "Think about how you felt when you heard that, because I remember you being close to the point of shedding tears of joy. She wouldn't want you to give up now, and neither do we."

Ventus looked over his friends in awe for a minute or two, hardly believing how sure they sounded, until he noticed a small fairy with blonde hair, dressed in green flying over to hover near him with a smile on her face. The little fairy had something to say as well, and this time when she spoke, Ventus did not simply hear ringing bells, but instead, actual words, as he understood exactly what Tinker Bell was saying for the first time. "I believe in you, Master Ventus."

That seemed to be all the encouragement that Ven needed before he pushed back and was seen beating the pirate until he was knocked over the side of the ship and into the water, where he immediately began swimming away from a hungry crocodile, much to the amusement of Ven and the others. Another scene shift showed Sora standing at the railing in silence before he finally said, "I still can't believe it." The next thing anyone knew, the kid was looking up at the sky with a huge grin. "I really flew! Wait 'til I tell Riku and everyone else back home! I wonder if any of them will believe me. Probably not."

"I'd hate to admit it, but even I would probably have a hard time believing it if I hadn't seen it happen," the cheerful voice of the redhead girl teasingly admitted, apparently from within Sora's mind, but it did nothing to bring down Sora's apparently good mood.

When the scene changed again, it showed the blonde fairy from before flying around Ventus, and then creating what looked like a summon charm and a strange looking keychain. Sora and the other two then watched as Ven smiled and said, "Okay then. Welcome to the team, Tink."

The next scene shift showed the four meeting with a man with blonde spiky hair, and a large sword on his back, to which Sora said, "I'm searching too."

"For your light," the swordsman questioned, just as another image of the redhead briefly appeared. "Don't lose sight of it."

Another scene change occurred, where Sora could be seen walking away from what looked like living, stuffed animals, as the smallest one asked, "Sora, where are you going?"

"I'm gonna go look for my friends. They're waiting for me," Sora replied. With that said, the other stuffed animals all waved goodbye, with the most notable being a small bear in a red shirt.

The scene shifted again, to show Sora standing before Riku on the pirate ship from earlier, and it was clear that they were on opposite sides. "Where are Donald, Goofy, and Ven, Riku," Sora demanded, sounding like he was not in the mood to play games right now.

Riku seemed to immediately scowl in response as he said, "Instead of worrying about them, you should be asking…about her."

Riku then stepped aside to reveal the someone had been behind him, but the image of them was quickly distorted as it showed the blurry image of the redhead again, while said girl's voice could be heard calling out in an echo, "My body!"

Another scene shift showed Sora, Ven, and the redhead, now apparently back to normal, racing through a destroyed town to a woman who appeared unconscious until Ven and the redhead started casting some healing magic. Shortly after the spells had done their job, the woman arose to reveal her mismatch colored eyes, one blue and the other green, while her full attire could be better viewed as well. In its entirety, it could only be described as being rather regal while enhancing her already beautiful features. She wore a black camisole underneath a white sash that wrapped around her neck and over her chest, tucked into a yellow sash that was tied into a bow at her back and wrapped around her middle, while her arms were left bare save for the white sleeves that reached from the middle of her upper arms down to her wrists. Along with that, she also wore a flowing, purple pleated dress with flower patterns running along it, and a pair of black boots with small, almost unnoticeable heals. To complete her outfit, they saw that she also wore a blue-beaded earring on her right ear, though it was mostly hidden by a lock of her hair, with said earring being woven into blue beads with gold rings around a larger bead in the middle, along with a silver pendant hanging around her neck on a thin necklace.

"I'm Summoner Yuna from the Spira island of Besaid," the woman's voice could be heard saying.

"It's an honor to meet a summoner of Spira, Lady Yuna," Ventus could be heard replying.

The scene shifted once again to show Sora and Ven each sealing a Keyhole before it showed a faint, blurry image of Riku, before quickly turning its attention to another blurry image of the red haired girl that appeared behind him. The images quickly faded out though, as it then began to come more into focus on a moment that saw Xion down on the ground behind a man with long, silver hair, dressed in the same black coat at the other members of the strange group that she and Roxas seemed to be part of, while the Keyblade sat between them, stabbed into the ground.

After panting for a few moments, Xion finally just collapsed, and could do nothing to stop the silver haired boy from approaching her. When he finally came close enough, she could see that he was wearing a blindfold for some reason, which he briefly removed so that he could look at her with one, blue-green eye, which quickly helped to better identify him as Riku, now a little older and grown up than he had been in the other visions. Said eye immediately widened in shock as soon as he got a look at Xion, and he immediately jumped back after placing the blindfold back on properly. "Your face…who are you really, and why do you have a Keyblade," Riku demanded.

Xion did not immediately reply, but instead, just slid her hood back on before looking up at Riku and trying to make her voice sound as intimidating as possible under the circumstances. "Tell me first…why you are dressed as one of us."

Riku just stared at her for a minute before walking over to her dropped Keyblade, and plucking it out of the ground as he said, "To make sure my best friend…sleeps in peace." He looked over the Keyblade for a few minutes before he then added, "I don't know who you're supposed to be, but…you can't fight fire with sparks. This Keyblade, it's a sham—worthless."

Xion just watched in shock as the silver haired boy tossed her Keyblade back over to her, barely able to do anything to keep it from clattering onto the ground next to her while vicious anger rose up inside of her. "My Keyblade is not a sham," Xion snarled before she spun to face him and shouted, "What gives you the right to say that?!"

The next thing she knew, Xion was grabbing the Keyblade and charging him in anger, only for the taller boy to spin under her swing and land a solid hit on her back with his fist, knocking her down once again. After she fell, the Keyblade vanished, apparently having already sensed that it's wielder no longer had much strength left to fight, while the boy stood up straight again and advised, "Find a new crowd. Trust me. Those guys are bad news."

Despite having already felt as much from her own observations, Xion was not about to let this guy talk down to her as though she were a stupid child and walk away, and she immediately retorted, "Why? You're the real sham!"

That made the blindfolded man halt in his retreat, and he remained quiet for a moment before he finally shrugged and said, "Fair enough. You could say I am…the biggest nobody of them all."

There was nothing that Xion could say in response to that, and she could not believe the way this guy had apparently mocked her, shamed her, and basically thrown all of her hard work in her face like this. All she could do was scream out in anger and sorrow while hot tears slowly started to form in her eyes. It was a very disheartening scene, and one would be very glad to see it change to a moment that saw Roxas and Xion sitting atop the clock tower of Twilight Town, apparently enjoying some ice cream, had there not been a distinctive heaviness in the air. That heaviness only grew after Roxas had gotten Xion's attention after multiple tries.

"Something wrong," Roxas inquired.

"Sorry. My mind's on other things," Xion tried to play off, but it did not seem like Roxas was buying it. After a moment or two, the girl asked, "Roxas, do you ever think…about why we're doing all of this?"

"What do you mean, why? So we can get hearts of our own, right," Roxas replied like it was obvious, though he did not sound entirely sure of it himself.

That answer did not seem to satisfy Xion, as she simply turned to look out at the view of Twilight Town with a downcast expression before asking, "But what do we need hearts for?"

"I don't know," Roxas quietly admitted. "But I think once we have hearts, we probably won't have to think about why we're doing all this, or if we need hearts."

It sounded reasonable, but somehow, it also sounded like Roxas was just repeating someone else's words, and Xion could easily tell within seconds of him saying that. "I'm not sure. I just wish…I knew what I was doing here."

Roxas now looked a little more concerned as he placed a hand on Xion's shoulder and said, "Hey, I may not know that, but I do know that I'm here for you if you need me, Sis."

"Huh? 'Sis,'" Xion repeated, not expecting Roxas to call her that.

Roxas's expression turned sheepish at that, before he said, "Well…Axel told me that sometimes, siblings or friends who are like siblings with one another call each other things like 'Sis' or 'Bro', and well…I'd like to think that if I had a sister before, then she was probably a lot like you."

"You think of me…like a sister," Xion inquired. "I thought we were just friends."

"We are friends, but even without anything the others say, I know that you and are both special, and there's just something about you that makes me feel like I already have a heart, and like I want to help you any way that I can," Roxas explained.

Xion's sad expression turned thoughtful for a minute before a small smile started to form on her face as she said, "Thanks Roxas. I appreciate that." Her smile faded a little though before she said, "Even if there is a chance that I'm just a mistake."

"What? Where did you get that idea from? Saïx," Roxas inquired, and her silence was all the confirmation that he needed. "He may be the one who assigns missions, but he's also nothing more than a big bully, or at least, what I think is a bully, based on what Axel told me about people like that the other day." When he saw that this did not seem to be helping her too much, he quickly added, "Hey, don't worry. If he ever gives you anymore trouble, you can just come and let me know. I'm sure I can do something to help make you feel better or even straighten him out."

Now that got Xion to giggle a little before she said, "Sorry Roxas, but I'm pretty sure you wouldn't last too long against Saïx."

"Well…maybe. But if I got Axel to help out," Roxas tried to defend himself, only to get a few more giggles from Xion, until they both fell into comfortable laughter.

The scene shifted again, this time showing Xion waking up in the arms of the same blindfolded man as before. Despite knowing that she should feel anger towards him, Xion was only overcome with intrigue. "Are you…"

"Riku. Sora's friend," the silver haired man replied, confirming what one would have already suspected.

"Sora," Xion gasped as she started to sit up. "You know Sora?"

"Yeah," Riku replied as he stood up, and then offered her a hand to help her up as well.

Xion gratefully accepted and stood as well before nodding, "Thank you. You saved me, but I don't know why…you did."

"I guess…I just felt like it," Riku shrugged before he started to walk off.

"Riku, please," Xion called out, making him pause in his retreat. "Tell me more…about Sora and that girl he's always with. She's the one who looks so much like me."

There must have been something in between, because the scene suddenly shifted to a point where Riku was standing in front of Xion as he said, "To Sora, she's someone very special."

"It's just…I remember things about the two of them, but I'm…"

Whatever else was said between the two would not likely be known any time soon, as the scene immediately faded to black, before being replaced with an image of Roxas in Twilight Town, standing before the figure clad in armor from the last dream. "Who are you," Roxas asked, his fingers already flexing so that he could summon his Keyblade.

The armored man just stared in silence for a minute before he calmly stated, "I'm someone who wants to help you…and the one you call a sister. Partly because it will save you two, and partly because you can both help me save Sora."

"Sora? You know him," Roxas gasped, dropping his guard all at once.

The armored man just nodded and said, "I do, though it would be strange if I didn't know my own apprentice."

"So then…You're…" Roxas started to say, only to silence himself when the armored man raised a single finger up to signal for quiet.

"Your guess is correct, but let's not go blurting out such information here," the armored man suggested. "Your sister has already come to us seeking answers, and we can help you both. However, it has to be your choice and yours alone. Not something that's influenced by what the ones around you say."

"But how…how can I make my own choice when I've got nothing to go off of other than what Xion, Axel, and all the others have told me," Roxas asked.

The armored man just stared at Roxas for a minute, before Roxas got the impression that the man behind the helmet was smiling at him as he said, "Just look inside yourself. You'll find something that has been steadily forming there which holds the answer."

---

That was when the dreams had ended for Xion, and she awoke with a start. When she felt a small wetness on her face, she quickly raised her hand up to feel tears streaming down from her eyes a little bit. She quickly rubbed them away, not wanting Roxas to worry about her if he saw them, and then jumped out of bed to prepare for the day, thinking that Roxas was already up. When she got to the kitchen though, she saw no sign of her brother, drawing a feeling of confusion over her. There was very little chance that she was actually up before Roxas, but it had happened from time to time. The problem was, Xion knew that it only happened if Roxas had stayed up later than her, and Xion knew for a fact that they had both hit the sack at the same time last night, so why did it seem like he was not already up. She quickly moved to the sink to see if there were any recently discarded dishes that would show if he had already gotten up and left without her, but she found no such signs, and after waving her hand over the stove, she could tell that it had not been used since there was no lingering heat.

With no other explanation to go off of, Xion turned to go back upstairs to her brother's room so that she could wake him up. At that thought, Xion had to smirk a little when she realized this would be a perfect chance for her to pay him back for his little prank a couple days ago, and her pace up to his room quickened a little bit. Little did she suspect that he was still in the midst of his own version of their strange dreams, and that it had one little extra detail in it.

---

The first thing to be seen was what looked like a laboratory of some kind, with a large, odd-looking computer situated in one corner. Seated at the computer was a man dressed in a red cloak, whose head was wrapped up in thick red bandages of some kind. It was hard to really get a feel for what this place was or what the man was doing here, but if there was one thing that was certain, it was that he was not doing anything for entirely noble purposes. There was just something about him that seemed to indicate that he had an ulterior purpose for anything that he did, be it good or bad. Thankfully, he did not remain in sight of the mind's eye for long, and something much more interesting soon formed in the place of the strange man.

When the scene shifted again, one could see a large, mostly empty, white room, with a massive, egg-shaped pod in the center. The most interesting thing though, was that there was a person standing in front of the pod, and even from a distance, one could easily tell that the person was a girl. It was a little hard to really see that much of her, but from a distance, one could see that she wore a white dress and had blonde hair that ran a little past her shoulders. A moment later, it became a little easier to see her, as the room she was standing in disappeared, leaving only her standing in a large void of blackness. Without anything else in the way, one could see that she was a little pale, but not to an unhealthy level, and that the hem of the white dress she wore came down to around her mid-thighs. On her feet, one could also see a pair of light blue sandals, and even from the back, one would also be able to tell that her blonde hair draped over her right shoulder.

"Who are you," Roxas's voice could be heard asking, and the girl seemed to hear him, as she quickly turned around to face him. He could not see all of her face, but from what he could see, it was easy to tell that she had rosy cheeks, and pale pink lips that slowly curved upwards into a smile right before she disappeared into the darkness surrounding her.

---

With the final moments of his dream at an end, Roxas slowly began to wake up, and from the sunlight pouring in through his window, even if it was still sunlight that was normal at the hours of twilight, he quickly figured out that he had overslept a little bit. Shockingly, he was not too worried about that. As long as he was up before Xion, he had nothing to worry about, unless this was one of those rare days when she actually got up early on her own. Just as he had gotten up into a sitting position though, he suddenly felt like there was someone else in the room with him, and he immediately turned to face them. His eyes were met with nothing more than his own, empty room, but all the same, Roxas was certain that someone had just been in the room, watching him as he woke up. The strangest thing was, he did not feel the least bit freaked out like he probably should have been. If anything, he actually felt something…well, he was not sure how to describe what he had been feeling just now, but he did know that it was certainly not a bad feeling.

His musings on the matter quickly ended when a loud knock came from the other side of the door, followed by Xion's voice. "Roxas," his sister called. "Are you up yet?"

"Uh…Yeah. I just woke up," Roxas replied.

"Seriously," Xion asked before she let herself in, knowing that Roxas would have said not to if he did not want her coming in. "Did you stay up a little later last night than I thought, or did something wake you up in the middle of the night?"

"Neither. Just…a really weird dream," Roxas admitted, not saying any more than that, hoping that Xion would just let it go. It seemed pretty easy for her to do so, and he was thankful for that, but that was before he noticed the faint traces of tear tracks on her face. "Xion, were you crying earlier?"

Xion cursed in her head for not thinking to double check her appearance in a mirror before she came to get her brother, and let out a small sigh before she admitted, "No, not really. I just had a really bad dream." She kept silent after that before she finally asked, "Roxas…do you think I'm a sham, or a mistake?"

"What?! Xion where in the world did you get that idea from," Roxas demanded, surprised beyond measure that his sister would ever ask that question.

"It's just…there was someone a little while back that said something like that to me, and well…I couldn't help but think that…" Xion stuttered, not really sure how to properly put it without telling Roxas about her weird dreams. She probably should have thought this through in advance before she said anything.

"Xion, look at me for a minute," Roxas requested as he sprang up from his bed and grasped her shoulders, just to make extra sure that she was paying attention to him. When the raven haired girl locked her gaze on him, Roxas stated, "It doesn't matter what anyone else says, what they think, or what they tell you. I don't care if they're even the literal king of the world or the universe. You are not a sham, a mistake, or any other bad thing out there. You are a good person with a kind heart and soul. You're my sister. And most importantly, you're you, and not anyone else. You got that memorized, Sis?"

Xion did not immediately reply. Instead, she just stared at Roxas, honestly not believing how passionately he had said all of that, yet admiring him for it at the same time. It really was amazing to her that he believed that so fiercely, and she knew that Roxas cared about everyone around him a lot, especially in her case, but that never made hearing it any less significant or special. After a few more moments, Xion finally smiled as brightly as she could, reminding Roxas again why so many folks found his sister to be so cute, and said, "Yeah, perfectly memorized. Thanks, Bro."

"Any time," Roxas nodded in return as he pulled her in for a quick hug. Xion happily reciprocated the gesture, but became a little confused when Roxas pulled back and scrunched his eyebrows in thought for a minute.

"What's the matter," Xion asked.

"It's nothing," Roxas waved off. "Hey, how about you make breakfast today, seeing as I'm still not ready yet? No point in waiting around for me to make something and causing us to be late for meeting up with the others."

"Okay, but don't expect anything spectacular," Xion cautioned playfully as she turned to leave, but Roxas was not going to let her leave without one last comment.

"Oh, and Xion, just so you know, anyone who ever calls you any nasty thing like that, will have to answer to me, no question," Roxas promised. That earned him a giggle of thanks from his sister, and she quickly left the room after that. With his sister now out of the room, Roxas quickly started getting dressed, but the whole time he was doing so, he could not help but wonder about that girl he saw at the end of his dream, the presence that he had felt in his room before Xion arrived at the door, and something else that refused to leave him alone. "'Got it memorized?' Just where did that come from, and why do I feel like I used to hear someone say that almost all the time?"

---

Later on that same day, after a simple breakfast of cereal and toast, the siblings were on their way down to the usual place like always. The only difference was that Roxas just could not get last night's dreams or the little talk with Xion out of his head. Sure, most of the stuff in his weird dreams about that guy, Sora was normal, but it was still boggling his mind how he was now seeing things about him and Xion that seemed too real to have been just the imaginings of his subconscious. Plus, there was that last bit at the end that really had him wondering. Not the part about the creepy man in the red robes, but the part regarding that girl in white. Sure, he had not seen her face, or really gotten that good of a look at her, but there was just something about the girl that had him curious. Of course, there was also that other feeling he could not put a word to regarding her, but for the moment, he was just settling with the curiosity about her. And then there was that sense of familiarity he suddenly gained from that last phrase he used when he was cheering up Xion. He somehow knew he had heard it somewhere before, but he could not put his finger on exactly where he had heard it, or who it was that said it.

Xion must have noticed how distracted her brother was and thought that he was really upset about something, most likely regarding how he had lost the munny for yesterday's beach trip if she had to guess, because after a few minutes, she started humming a rather upbeat, catchy tune to herself. Roxas immediately recognized the song, mainly because it was one that had just popped up on the radio one day, and the two had both quickly taken a liking to it. They were not really sure of the singer's name, beyond the fact that she was known as simply the songstress while her band was called the Celsius Wings, but there was no denying that every song they did was really popular, the two most popular ones being songs called "Real Emotion" and "1,000 Words." Normally, whenever one of the two were feeling down, one of them would start humming either one of those two songs or the theme for DuckTales in effort to cheer the other up, and it usually worked because once you got far enough into so much as humming one of those songs, one or both of the twins would start actually singing it. Of course, they usually did so when it was just the two of them, as Roxas insisted that it would be really embarrassing if anyone ever heard him singing one of the Songstress's songs, but thankfully, since there was no one else in the back alley at the moment, Xion knew that it would only be a matter of time before Roxas started singing along to the song out loud.

Just like clockwork, the corners of Roxas's mouth started to curve upwards, even as he tried to insist that his sister was not going to get him to start singing that song, until finally, he caved in, and the two quickly started singing their own little duet version of "Real Emotion." Of course, that did not stop Roxas from looking over his shoulder every few minutes for any sign of Hayner, Pence, Olette, or, heaven forbid, Seifer's gang. He would never live it down if any of them heard him singing that song, or even just singing in general. Xion always insisted that he had a great singing voice, but Roxas just refused to believe her on that, so she did eventually give up on getting him to join her for any Karaoke nights at McDuck's Tasty Treat Parlor.

They finished the song just as they walked into the Usual Spot, only to find that no one was there. "Do you think they got tired of waiting for us and just left," Xion questioned, after failing to find any signs of anyone being there, or even hiding out in waiting.

"No, I don't think so," Roxas dismissed. "They wouldn't just take off with some big plans for the day without at least leaving us a note or something."

Xion had to agree with him on that, before muttering, "We've really gotta exchange phone numbers with each other."

"Do Pence or Hayner even have cell phones," Roxas asked with an amused smirk, knowing that it would be a little silly to think so, given how, as he had stated yesterday, they were all broke. The only reason he and Xion had their own phones was so that they could keep track of the time or call their guardian in an emergency. Before Xion could reply, Roxas spotted a paper on the old couch, and it looked like something was written on it. "Hey, I think I found their note," Roxas informed Xion once he saw that said note was done in Hayner's handwriting.

"Well, what does it say," Xion asked.

"'Meet at the station. Today's the day we hit the beach, and don't sweat about the munny. Hayner,'" Roxas read aloud. "Guess he must've done some extra work before he went home last night or something."

"But even with that, there's no way Hayner could've gotten that much munny all on his own. Do you really think he found enough for all of us to go," Xion asked.

"Only one way to find out. Besides, do you really want to pass up on a trip to the beach," Roxas asked in return.

Xion paused to think for a moment before she finally shrugged and said, "No, good point. Still, maybe we should talk to the others first, just to make sure this is for real."

Roxas had to admit that the girl had a good point, so the two immediately set out to find the rest of the gang. They did not have to look for long, as they quickly spotted Olette and Pence together right when they reached Station Heights. "Morning you two," Olette waved in greeting.

"Hey! Is it true that we're going to be able to go to the beach today," Xion immediately inquired, her excitement at the prospect as palpable as anything could be.

"Yeah! Isn't it great," Pence asked, earning nods from both brother and sister.

"So what are you guys doing here right now," Roxas asked as the two friends started to approach. A minute later though, the two stopped moving, and for a moment, Roxas started to think that he and Xion had caught them on a secret date or something, but after taking a closer look, they saw that the two had not only stopped moving, but they had literally frozen in their tracks. Completely still, like a pair of living statues. "Huh?"

"What just happened to Pence and Olette," Xion worriedly asked. She remembered the last time strange things happened around her and her brother, and she was not too eager for another incident like the one with the photo thief.

"I'm not sure," Roxas replied, and he immediately started racing forward so he could get a closer look at the two. Before he got even three steps though, he had to skid to a halt so that he would avoid hitting the person that had literally just appeared in front of him. Roxas breathed a sigh of relief when he regained his balance without knocking over the person in front of him, but when he looked up again, he found himself stunned silent.

There, standing right in front of him, was the blonde girl from his dream, in all of her glory! Same skin tone, same white dress with an embroidered lace pattern, same light blue sandals, and same everything, right down to the way she had her hair draped over her right shoulder. The only difference between his dream and now was that Roxas could now see her entire face, and along with her rosy cheeks, and pale, pink lips, he saw that she also had bright blue eyes that bordered on being violet, which glimmered with a spark that Roxas had never seen in the eyes of any other girl before. He knew it was rude to stare, but for some reason, Roxas just could not break his gaze off of this girl, and the reason was quite simple: he thought she was absolutely beautiful. Yes, he had thought that a few other girls were pretty or beautiful before, but not like this. There was just something about this girl that had him completely mesmerized to the point of speechlessness. When she finally spoke, her voice was calm, slightly quiet, and had a touch of shyness to it, but all the same, to Roxas, it sounded like the voice of an angel. He probably would have taken a few more moments to enjoy it had her words not eventually managed to register in his mind. "Hello, Roxas," the mystery blonde greeted with a wide smile.

Now Roxas was completely baffled. He was sure he had never seen this girl before, and yet somehow, she actually knew his name. It was not until Xion finally crept up behind him and gave him a gentle nudge in the back that he managed to find his voice again, but just barely. "Uh…H-hi…" Roxas stuttered.

This time it was Xion who was left stunned. Sure, Roxas had his moments of hesitance or nervousness, but she had never seen him act shy in this way before. At least, not as far as she could remember. She then glanced over at the blonde in front of them before turning back to her brother, and repeated this process several times over before she felt a small, mischievous smile creep up onto her face at the realization of just what she believed was going on here. Of course, it disappeared when the blonde girl suddenly turned to her, still smiling, and suddenly hugged Xion out of nowhere. "It's so good to see you, too, Xion," the blonde sighed happily.

"Um…yeah. Nice to see you, too…strange girl," Xion muttered.

Hearing his sister speak made Roxas regain a little more cognitive thought, so when the blonde pulled away from Xion, he managed to start asking the obvious question. "And you are…?"

The blonde merely raised a hand to silence him, before clasping her hands together, and holding his gaze in a perfect lock as she said, "I wanted to meet you again at least once."

"Us," Roxas repeated, as a sign of his quickly growing confusion.

"Yes, you," the blonde happily confirmed, though from what Xion could tell, the feeling was more directed at Roxas than it was her. Unlike her brother though, Xion was still able to retain enough conscious thought to ask the important questions.

"What did you mean by 'again?' Have we met somewhere before," Xion asked, going for the most obvious first.

The blonde nodded in response before she said, "You actually came to me so you could ask for some help. Or rather, you wanted to know if there was any way I could help you, so that you could both help another friend of mine."

"But…why…how…" Roxas stuttered.

The blonde just continued to smile at the two siblings before glancing around once again, almost like she was checking if the coast was clear, and then saying, "If you want to know more, come to the Old Mansion. If you do, I'll tell you both as much as I can."

With that, the girl turned and started to walk towards the Tram Common, leaving the other two unable to do any more than stare after her until she had finally disappeared from view. The only reason that they were able to shake their gaze away from where she had vanished was because the world around them suddenly unfroze again, and their friends came towards them, with Pence giving a delayed answer to Roxas's previous question. "Olette dragged me along to go shopping," the heavy-weight boy said in a way that made it sound like he was enduring a great torture.

"Hey, you guys wanna come with us," Olette asked, apparently not registering the bewildered states of the two siblings.

Roxas was able to come around again first, but it was just barely, as evidenced by how he barely managed to ask, "Um, uhh, wait…Did you just see that…?"

"He's stalling," Pence muttered to Olette, and that was what finally got Xion to come around again, her mind quickly coming up with a cover story while simultaneously latching onto her previous revelation.

"Far from it, actually. We can't come with because we're on a mission of our own," Xion told them.

"A mission? What kind of mission? And why is it a mission to begin with," Olette questioned, taking careful note of the way Xion was smiling at the moment.

Xion's smile slowly turned into a slight grin before she told her friends in a sing-song voice just what it was that had prompted their sudden mission. "Roxas is in love~!"

"NO WAY," Pence and Olette both exclaimed at the same time.

"WHAT," Roxas shouted in disbelief. He was definitely all the way back from wherever his mind had taken him to now.

"Yeah, I'm not kidding," Xion excitedly cheered. "We were just heading towards the Usual Spot earlier, when we saw this blonde girl in a white dress passing by. I didn't really think much of it, beyond the fact that I'd never seen her anywhere in town before, but then I saw how Roxas's eyes were sticking to her like glue, and when I turned to look back at her, I saw that she was looking right back at him with a small smile! You know, the kind that a girl gives to a guy she might be interested in! He then turned into a stuttering mess when she just smiled a little wider and waved at him, and that pretty much confirmed it for me! My big brother's finally found a girl he's in love with, so now, we've got to find out where she is so that they can start going out!"

"W-wait a second! That's not what…" Roxas tried to protest.

"Well then don't let us stop you from carrying out this mission. If Roxas was as stunned by this girl as you say he was, then you've definitely got to find her," Olette cheered.

"Yeah, otherwise, who knows when he'll meet another girl like that," Pence agreed.

"No, guys! I didn't…" Roxas attempted to cut in, only to be ignored once more.

"I know, right?! Besides, from the looks of her, she seemed like she could one day be the best sister-in-law, too," Xion added in, grinning a little more at how Roxas's face was doing such an impressive impression of a tomato.

"Would you guys listen to me for a minute, so I can tell you that it's not like that," Roxas interrupted. "You're taking this way too far!"

"All right, we'll leave you guys to your mission then," Olette appeased in defeat. "We'll see you guys later. Good luck tracking down Roxas's future girlfriend."

Any protests that Roxas said afterwards went ignored by his two departing friends, so he was left to turn a glare to Xion that demanded answers on why she said that. He never got the question out, as Xion's teasing expression faded away into a much more serious one, indicating that she had just switched over to a more serious topic, and was not going to beat around the bush about it. "How'd you know that girl," Xion asked.

Roxas knew that when she gave him that look, there was no way he would be able to give her anything but the truth, so he immediately admitted, "I saw her in a dream. Or, I saw someone that looked just like her, but that's the thing. The likeness is just too exact to be a coincidence, and…I've been having some other weird dreams lately. About people I've never met and a few other things as well."

When she heard all of that, Xion's mind immediately went blank for a moment, and a stunned expression slowly started to cross her features. Did this mean what she thought it meant? It was still too soon for her to really know, and she was going to find out one way or the other right now. "What kind of people and things did you see in these dreams?"

He may not be sure what brought that question on, but Roxas eventually just passed it off as curiosity, so he humored his sister. "Well, in some of the more recent dreams, I've been seeing you and me doing things like magic, going on actual missions, and a lot of other stuff for this group of people that were all wearing black coats. They called us Number XIII and Number XIV for some weird reason, and we were both able to use that Keyblade that appeared in my hand the other day when we cornered that creature that was stealing the photos," Roxas recounted aloud. "But this is only a more recent addition to what I was already seeing. Most of the dreams have always been about someone else who used that same Keyblade, going to other worlds with another person who had his own Keyblade, and two other guys, fighting monsters and looking for his friends. A guy by the name of…"

"Sora," Xion finished in questioning.

"Huh? Yeah," Roxas gasped in amazement. "How'd you know?"

Xion did not answer, but instead asked, "Those friends of his, were their names Donald, Goofy, and Ventus? And was he fighting a boy named Riku while looking for a girl with red hair?"

"Okay, now you're starting to scare me a little, Sis," Roxas cautioned, and judging by the expression on his face, he was certainly a little freaked out.

Xion was just as freaked out as her brother, but more than that, she was also getting a bit excited. "Name a few of the things you saw in your most recent dream about them! And anything about us too," she all but demanded.

"Well…last night, I saw Sora and the others meeting a mermaid, fighting pirates, freeing a genie, talking to a satyr and a living skeleton, meeting someone that Ventus called a summoner, and summoning a dragon, a superhero, and an alien woman with laser swords," Roxas quickly recounted as best as he could. He may not remember all the details of the strange dreams, but he was still able to recall a few, basic things. "Oh! There were also a few moments when Ventus was teaching Sora some important lessons, and he also told him that a princess's heart was inside of him. I think that it was that girl that he's always with."

"And what about us? What did you dream about us," Xion rapidly asked, sounding the answer was a movie that she had been dying to see and could barely wait another minute for.

"That's…a little harder to remember," Roxas admitted. "I know that we were part of that group with black coats and we were both able to use the Keyblade, but there were also moments when we were on the clock tower having ice cream, and the most recent one, I met a guy in a suit of armor, and you had met someone with the same coat, except he had a blindfold and said that he was only dressing like members of that group so that he could keep his best friend safe or something. I think he said his name was…"

"RIKU," Xion shouted, unable to keep it in any longer. "That's the exact same thing I saw in my dream last night!"

"Wait, what," Roxas exclaimed, not believing what he just heard. "Are you saying you had the same dream?"

"Yeah! Roxas, I've been having dreams about Sora, too, and all that other stuff you mentioned, I saw it in the dream I had last night as well," Xion revealed, honestly relieved that she could finally tell her brother about this.

"That does explain your weird question this morning," Roxas muttered to himself, mentally promising that he was going to punch Riku for treating Xion the way he did when they first met if he ever ran across the silver haired boy.

Xion's excitement dwindled a little though when she stated, "But I don't remember seeing that girl from just now before I woke up."

"Maybe…You just woke up before the dream could get to that part," Roxas offered, but from the look on Xion's face, he had a feeling that his sister was going to tell him something that was a little less sensible.

"Or maybe…that was her way of getting into contact with you, because she wanted you to recognize her when we saw her just now," Xion suggested. Roxas had to admit, he was not expecting something that simple, but he should have known better, because Xion was not done yet. "After all, what girl doesn't want her future boyfriend to know what she looks like?"

"I'm not her future boyfriend! I don't even know her name," Roxas insisted.

"But she knew yours," Xion countered.

"And she knew yours, too. That doesn't mean she wants you to be her girlfriend," Roxas retorted, not knowing that his face was turning a little red again.

Xion just rolled her eyes at her brother's insistence at denying his feelings, but right now was not the time to get him past that. There were more important matters to deal with. "That doesn't change the fact that she apparently knew us, or the fact that she was looking at you more than me the whole time we were talking to her," Xion pointed out. "Besides, she also said that she wanted to meet us again. That means we did meet at her some point."

"I think I would remember meeting her before," Roxas argued.

"Why? Because you remember every girl that you think is pretty, cute, nice…" Xion started to list.

"And every other positive thing you could say about a girl," Roxas finished, not knowing that he had said it out loud until it was too late.

"What was that," Xion asked, though from the teasing sound of her voice, she did not need Roxas to repeat himself.

"N-Nothing," Roxas still denied. "Look, it doesn't matter right now! She said that she could give us answers at the Old Mansion, so the real question is whether or not we should go."

Xion immediately turned serious at this question, and looked to where the blonde girl had disappeared too, thinking over that very matter that her brother brought up. He had a point in saying that they did not know her, but from the way she spoke and acted, that girl definitely seemed to know them. More importantly, she had just appeared out of nowhere, right when the world around them had suddenly frozen up, and she did not seem the least bit concerned about that. Could that mean she knew something about the other strange things that the two siblings had been going through lately? And just what answers could she give them? Did she actually know something about their dreams? There were just too many questions and not enough answers, and it was giving Xion a bad feeling in the pit of her stomach. One that she knew would not go away if they just stood around here contemplating all day.

With all of that in mind, Xion turned to her brother and asked, "What do you think we should do?"

Roxas knew that was a loaded question. Xion clearly wanted to go after that girl in white, and he could tell it was not just so she could try and play matchmaker between him and the mystery girl. She wanted answers about all of this just as badly as he did, and from what that girl had implied, she knew at least a few things. Besides, aside from missing the beach trip, it was not like they really had anything to lose, right? Sure, they were essentially trusting a stranger, but was she really a stranger if she did know them from somewhere? In the end, the choice seemed pretty easy to make. "Let's go after her," Roxas decided. "I don't know about you, but I definitely want to know just what is going on with us, especially lately."

Xion nodded in agreement, and like that, the two were heading down the remainder of Station Heights so that they could follow the girl to the mansion out in the woods, eager for any answers that they may or may not receive. Although, there was still a small part of them that made them wonder what would happen after they got those answers. Then again, there was also a part of Xion that was silently promising Roxas that she was not going to let up on teasing him over his obvious new crush on the blonde girl in white for good, so that probably did not say too much.

---

Catching up with the blonde girl was not too hard for the siblings, but that was mainly because she did not seem to really go that far without stopping for a few moments so that they could catch up. Sure, she was always a great distance away from them when she did stop, and then started going again by the time they were halfway to her, but at least she was stopping a little. That did not keep Roxas from wishing that she would let them get all the way over to wherever she was before she kept going again, but he was not going to admit that out loud, especially with Xion constantly teasing him about having a crush on this mystery girl. Of course, the other thing that was bugging him was why she was not going to tell them anything until after they had gotten to the mansion. There did not seem to be anything wrong with telling them while they were back at Station Heights, and yet she seemed pretty insistent on only saying something at a specific location. Maybe she knew that time was going to resume in a few moments and did not want to be around when it did for some reason, but that just raised the questions of what that reason was and how could she have known that. Either way, any answer that came to Roxas was instantly followed with at least half a dozen new questions, and the only way he and Xion were going to get any answers on anything, be it their weird dreams that they were both apparently having or the blonde that had just appeared out of nowhere, was by humoring this girl in her strange request to meet at the old mansion.

Eventually, they made it all the way to the edge of the woods, but when they did, the siblings also lost sight of the blonde. When Roxas asked if Xion was sure that the girl had gone in through the hole in the wall, his sister immediately replied with an insistent yes, but all the same, she was seeing just as few signs of the girl as her brother was. She doubted that the blonde could have gone too far though, as she did not really strike Xion as the athletic type, or even as much of an outdoorsy person, so this sudden disappearance was really confusing to Xion. After a minute or so, she finally had to ask why they were even trying to spot her when they already knew she was going to be waiting for them at the mansion, and Roxas had the decency to look sheepish upon realizing how silly he was being in asking if she saw any sign of them. A minute later, he grimaced a little bit, knowing that it was probably something of another reason for Xion to say that he was in love with this mystery blonde, but that teasing never came, because they were soon met with yet another surprise, and this one was far less pleasant.

When they were barely more than a few feet into the woods, the siblings suddenly had to come to a stop when a strange, dark mist suddenly began surrounding their feet before rising up in front of them and forming into an equally strange vortex that almost looked like a hole in the air. Neither of them wanted to get closer to the thing, and the desire to do so decreased even more when several, silver creatures like the photo thief from the other day came jumping out. The creatures quickly surrounded the two, and Roxas and Xion were both slowly backing away in preparation to run until one of them got close enough to grab hold of Roxas. "Hey, lemme go," Roxas cried out as he attempted to pry himself loose, but the monster's grip was just too strong to pry off.

"He said let go, freak," Xion shouted, and the next thing anyone knew, the raven haired girl was delivering a surprising spin kick right into the creature's head. Xion's attack immediately got the creature to let go of Roxas, but whether the blow actually did something or if it was out of surprise that Xion had taken said action was hard to say. Frankly, neither sibling really cared too much, as they were much more interested in making a run for it to escape. At least until they were about halfway to the Sandlot.

"Did you actually just kick that thing in the head," Roxas asked, incredulously.

"Yeah, I didn't think it would work either, to be honest," Xion shrugged as they continued running.

Roxas chanced a glance back, only to see that the creatures were still coming after them, and they were quickly catching up, and that prompted him to shout, "Well if your intention was to make them mad, then I think it definitely worked a lot better than you thought!"

Any reply Xion could have given was cut off before she could even form a single word when another, far more arrogant voice suddenly called out, "Hey, chicken wuss and pipsqueak!"

The two immediately turned to see that not only had they now entered the Sandlot in their attempts to get away from the silver creatures, but that Seifer and his gang were also there, too. Xion probably would have gone over and socked the taller boy in the jaw for calling her pipsqueak, since she really did not like people making fun of because of her height, but right now, she could not really care less about the bully of Twilight Town. At least not enough to do anything other than tell him off. "Not now, Seifer! We've got more important problems to worry about than you."

"Hey! Who're you callin' a problem, ya know," Rai demanded, looking just as angry as Seifer did right then, and no doubt beating his boss to the punch in asking that very question.

"You mean aside from you guys," Roxas sarcastically asked. He then pointed towards the alley he and Xion had just come from and said, "Them, for starters!"

The "disciplinary committee" immediately turned to where Roxas was pointing, just in time to see the silver creatures that had been chasing Roxas and Xion flying into the Sandlot, and they were all immediately jumping on guard. "Who's that," Fuu questioned.

"I dunno, but they've already crossed the line," Seifer stated as he grabbed his Struggle bat, while Rai assumed his own battle stance, and Vivi took cover in some unseen spot. Seifer then spared Roxas and Xion a small glance before grabbing a couple of spare bats that were nearby, and then tossed them over to the siblings as he shouted, "I think you two might need these!"

Roxas and Xion immediately caught the bats that they had been loaned, and then nodded in thanks to Seifer, more out of instinct than anything else, as they assumed their own battle stances. "Just be careful, you three," Xion cautioned. "These guys aren't exactly normal, and they don't go down easily."

"Good to know," Seifer replied in thanks, and like that, they were all trying to fight off the bizarre beings that had dared to invade their town.

Their attempts to fight off these creatures were about as successful as Roxas and Xion's were the last time they encountered one of these things, at least before Roxas suddenly found the Keyblade in his hand, because no matter how they swung at them, how hard they punched, or even how quickly they struck them, the creatures did not seem to be the least bit phased, assuming that they were at all. It was pretty clear that Seifer and Rai were getting the most annoyed by this, and despite how she seemed to maintain her calm exterior, one could tell that Fuu was getting pretty irritated by the creatures too. Not that the two siblings could blame the three, considering that fighting an enemy that they did not seem to be able to hurt was really nerve racking, but they were more worried about how to get rid of these things than they were about how upset their unexpected battle allies were getting.

Their concerns for Seifer and his pals did go up a little bit though when Xion noticed that the gang of four was starting to get surrounded shortly after Vivi seemed to find enough courage to join in on the fighting. Whether or not Roxas noticed this, she was not sure, as she could tell that he was pretty caught up in his struggle against the creature that had made him its primary focus. "If only I could use that ice blast or the Keyblade like I could in my dreams," Xion muttered to herself, and while the latter did seem like the better option, it was the first thing that made Xion stop and think for a minute. "Wait a minute…What was it that Ventus said in that dream from the other night?"

"The simplest way to put it is to say that when we use magic, it usually requires us to want something," Ventus's words from her dream echoed in her head, as Xion recalled that specific part of the dream. "When you cast Blizzard, you must want to cause your opponent to freeze."

"Want my opponent to freeze…" Xion repeated in her head, like a small mantra as she slowly raised her hand up towards the creatures. Eventually, the mantra stopped being something she was just thinking, and she started saying it aloud, albeit softly at first, but she steadily started raising her voice little by little as she went. "Want my opponent to freeze. Want my opponent to freeze. I want my opponent to…FREEZE!"

Just like that, the very moment when she shouted that last word, a blast of ice shards rocketed out from the palm of her hand, and collided right into the silver creature that was directly in front of her, sending it flying into one of its allies that were surrounding Seifer's gang. Seeing that her attempt at doing magic again was successful, Xion could not help but beam widely, and probably would have started to literally jump with joy had Roxas not suddenly shoved her down in an attempt to keep her from getting hit by another one of the silver creatures. Once he was sure that his sister was okay, Roxas immediately jumped back to his feet, helped Xion up as well, and then turned to face their opponents once again, only to find that the creatures were quickly surrounding Seifer and his pals once again.

"Not good," Roxas muttered. He then looked to Xion and asked, "I don't suppose you've got anymore of those ice blasts in you, do you, Sis?"

"I know that you know it was magic, and I guess I could give it a try," Xion replied, raising her hand up so that she was both ready to aim another spell and able to better focus said power in case she could summon up another blast as she did. Just when she was about to start her attempt though, she noticed something that was rather peculiar. "Uh Roxas? Is it my imagination, or are Seifer and the others not moving?"

Roxas raised an eyebrow at his sister, ready to pass it off as just her being silly, until he turned to see that she was right. "The hell," Roxas muttered. "They're completely frozen…just like Olette and Pence were earlier."

Saying that last part out loud reminded the two of what had happened after said event, and they slowly started scanning the area for any signs of the blonde girl from before. Their search was not very successful at first, as they only saw the silver creatures circling both them and the frozen bullies, until eventually, they seemed to get tired of immobile targets and turned their attention to the siblings once again. The twins were ready to try and make another run for it, when they heard the blonde girl's voice calling out, "Roxas! Xion! Use the Keyblades!"

Their attempts to spot the blonde were immediately redoubled while their situation was quickly forgotten, and if you were to ask her, it came as no surprise to Xion that Roxas ended up spotting their quandary first. The minute he did, he gave Xion a light pat on the arm and pointed upwards, and when Xion turned her gaze in said direction, she too, quickly spotted the blonde girl in the white dress looking down at them from the roof of one of the buildings that surrounded the Sandlot with a smile on her face. She would have pointed out that the girl's smile seemed to be mostly directed at Roxas, but at the moment, Xion felt that it was a bit more necessary for her to point out a small flaw in the blonde's request.

"I can't use the Keyblade! I can only shoot out blasts of magic," Xion told the girl. "Roxas was the one who somehow summoned it the other day. I've only been able to use it…"

"In your dreams," the blonde finished for Xion, and while it may have sounded like a question, it seemed pretty clear to Xion that it was not. "Those were much more than dreams, Xion, and you both know it. You can use the Keyblade, just like Roxas, and just like Sora and Ven too. The power is there inside of you. You just need to remember."

"Remember what," Roxas asked in Xion's place, thinking that this applied to him just as much as it did his sister. The blonde did not get the chance to answer, as one of the silver creatures finally moved in to attack, and the siblings immediately raised their arms to shield themselves out of reflex. Whether or not they were actually hit, they could not tell you, because at that very same moment, everything suddenly went dark for them.

---

When Xion opened her eyes, she saw no signs of the strange creatures that were attacking her and Roxas, but that was little relief considering that it looked like the Sandlot and all the rest of Twilight Town had disappeared as well. Now, she was standing in a place that was surrounded by dark clouds, and she could hear faint music that sounded like a soothing choir piece emanating from all around her. When she finally looked down at the floor, Xion gasped at the large image she saw depicted beneath her feet. The floor was a massive, stained-glass image that gave it a very beautiful quality on its own, but what really shocked Xion were the people being depicted in the image. On one side, she could see what looked to be a sleeping Sora on the right, while on the other side, she could see the redheaded girl that Sora was always with. Both of them were holding Keyblades as they appeared to sleep, but while Sora's was like the one she always saw in her dreams, the redhead's was very different. It seemed rather harmless and kind of girly in its appearance, but at the same time, it was also quite beautiful. With a breaking wave and beige vine of sand making up the hilt, while said vine wrapped around the sunset colored shaft, and the colorful flowers that were entwined to form the shape of a heart to make up the teeth of the key, Xion was easily reminded of a calm day at a beach the more she looked at it, and could only think that it suited the redhead girl perfectly. Still, she was a bit confused on why the stained-glass floor depicted both the girl and Sora like this.

When she took a couple steps forward to better analyze the picture, Xion jumped a little as the floor gave off a small flash of light, nothing too bright or noticeable unless you were looking right at it, but it was still there all the same. When the light faded away seconds later, the image of the two people from her strange dreams was replaced with a very different one that shocked Xion quite a bit. There, where the image of Sora had once been, was now a picture of her, also sleeping with a Keyblade in hand, and decked out in a black coat like the one she wore in the dreams. Next to her image were several small circles, and in one of them she could see a picture of Roxas. Another of the circles was filled in with an image of a man with long hair that she recognized from her dreams as Riku, while a third one held an image of the man in odd armor, but the rest of the circles were either blank or had images that looked to be either faded or rubbed out. Xion was not sure what to think now, having not expected the image to change like that, and she was even more surprised to see the picture change back into its original one when she took a few more steps forward. This little back-and-forth between the two images continued for every step that Xion took in a certain direction, like how the image on a holographic card would change when the card was moved a little, and while it did start to get a little entertaining to watch, Xion found her attention redirected when she heard something materialize somewhere close to her.

Turning around, Xion gasped at seeing the redhead's Keyblade had appeared before her, along with two other Keyblades that she did not recognize. One of the two was entirely silver, and displayed two hearts on the shaft. The handle had two angel wings on either side, while a strange symbol that was colored either blue or gold made up the teeth. The token on the end of the Keychain resembled a star-shaped charm that looked to be made up of seashells that were sewn together, with a little smiley face on the top point of the charm. In short, it was a very beautiful blade, and Xion could just feel that it was special in a great many different ways beyond just appearances. Meanwhile, the third Keyblade made Xion pause a little, as she could feel a great deal of magic coming from within it, while at the same time, there was something even more special about it as well. It had thin blade that was predominantly dull, metallic blue with a teardrop shaped gap in the base and near the tip of the blade's shaft. The head of the blade was a rough diamond shape, despite the fact that one corner of the diamond was missing, with a small, white diamond on the inner edge of the right corner, while the teeth were formed by four blue spikes lining the outer edge of the blade's head, and the handle was smooth and black with an angular guard that did not fully connect to the blade.

She was not entirely sure what she should do now, but somehow, Xion knew that she would probably have to choose one of these three Keyblades for some reason. At first she figured it was as some kind of bizarre test, but then she noticed something moving within the clouds, just outside the boundaries of the circular floor, and she figured that it was more likely she would need to choose one of the blades so that she could fight off whatever sort of monsters were lurking just out of sight. Slowly but surely, Xion approached the blades, and then raised her hand towards the one that she saw the redhead girl holding. When she did, a strange voice seemed to call out to her, telling her of the some characteristics that came with the blade.

"The Destiny's Embrace. A weapon of choice for those who prioritize magic over everything else, but are not the type who would engage an enemy in close combat," the voice recited, keeping it short and sweet. "Is great inner strength important to you?"

While Xion was intrigued by what she could do with magic, she did not want to give up her ability to go head-to-head with an opponent if she had to, so she immediately shook her head in negative reply. She then raised her hand to the thin, metallic blue Keyblade, and once again, heard a strange voice whisper something in her head. "The Rainfell. Powerful for those who are born a warrior, and seek to follow the grander plan. Battle and unflinching courage are the promise of this blade."

While it did seem a little more appealing to Xion, the fact that the voice talked like this blade was for someone who was constantly pulled into or preparing for a possible fight left her feeling a little less sure. She was not opposed to fighting if she had to, but she did not want to be constantly fighting some unknown enemy, or be preparing to take such actions. Still, this one was more appealing than the first Keyblade so she put it down as a maybe for now, and moved on to the final Keyblade. Part of her wondered why she did not inquire about the silver blade first, as she did regard it with a great deal more curiosity than the other two, but that did not really matter now, since she had already heard about the other two, so she simply moved along reached out to the silver blade so that she could hear about it. Just like the last two times, the strange voice whispered something to her, and this time, Xion did not find anything wrong with what she heard. "The Oathkeeper. A symbol of a great promise between those who hold each other close in their hearts. Whoever wields this blade would possess great magical skill while being equally gifted in battle, all in the effort to fulfill their greatest wish. Is balance of ability and promises in a strong bond important to you?"

That settled it for Xion, and she immediately grasped the Oathkeeper's handle so that she could heft it up over her head. She watched closely as the magnificent Keyblade glittered in the light of this strange place, until she heard the voice repeat its last question, and she did not hesitate to nod in reply. A moment later, the other two Keyblades vanished, and Oathkeeper seemed to shine a little brighter before it disappeared in a flash of light, and was then replaced by the Keyblade that Xion had seen Sora, Roxas, and herself wielding in the dreams. Xion could hardly believe her eyes at seeing that the Keyblade was actually in her hands, but she had to be sure that her eyes were not playing tricks on her. So, to test if this was actually happening, Xion quickly dismissed the Keyblade, waited a few moments, and then held her hand out with her eyes closed as she focused on the mighty weapon. When she heard something suddenly flash into existence at the same time that a new weight came into her hand, Xion turned to see that the Keyblade really was there, and she could only grin at the sight in excitement.

"I don't believe it! I can do it," Xion whispered in awe. Her voice then grew a little louder as she shouted out her revelation for all to hear. "I can wield the Keyblade!" Her eyes picked up on a trace of movement from the side, and when she turned to see the same silver creatures from before slowly approaching her, Xion did not step back or freeze up in worry. Instead, she just grinned a little, dropped into a battle stance, and playfully cautioned, "You guys are in so much trouble now."

---

Like Xion, Roxas also found himself atop a large pillar with a stained-glass floor, surrounded by dark clouds that some strange creatures could be seen lurking inside of, and even though he was curious about the place, he was a little more worried about what had happened to his sister than anything else. At least until he caught sight of the floor from the corner of his eyes. Down on the floor, he could see an image of Sora, sleeping with the Keyblade in his hand, and next to him, Roxas could see several small circles that displayed images of Riku, Donald, Goofy, Ventus, and the redhead girl that Sora was always with. When he took a step forward to look closer, he saw the image flash a little before it changed, and in Sora's place, Roxas could now see an image of himself, dressed in the very same outfit that he was currently wearing with the Keyblade in his hand. The images in the smaller circles had been changed as well, with the ones closest to his image clearly depicting Xion, and an image of the blonde girl that he and his sister had been chasing after when all this craziness started. He also spotted an image of the man in armor, who he was sure was Ventus, but as for the last two, he could not entirely say for certain as they seemed to have been faded out somehow. All he could tell about either of the other two was that they both seemed to have spiky hair, and one of them seemed like he had a playfully smug smile on his face.

Roxas's attention was soon drawn from the images on the floor when he heard something materialize close to him, and he looked up to see three different Keyblades had appeared. He only recognized one of the Keyblades, and that was only because it was identical to the one that he had seen Ventus using in the dreams. The other two were a mystery to him. The blade to the left of Ventus's was almost entirely black, save for a dark blue gem resting in the hilt, and possessed a chain-like design running up the length of the blade. The token at the end of its Keychain was comprised of black, chain links, which ended in a three-point crown token that looked identical to the pendant that Roxas always saw Sora wearing around his neck. Meanwhile, the other blade was mostly silver with some black along the blade and on the handle, and red lining both the guard and the circular tip of the blade. From where Roxas was standing, it looked like someone had taken two, circular weapons, like a chakram, and joined them together with a metal numeral eight. There were also a total of eight spikes on the blade, as far as Roxas could see, and for some reason, he could feel a great deal of warmth coming off of the blade, almost comparable to that of a campfire or something similar to that.

Seeing the creatures that were still lurking in the shadows made Roxas feel like he had to pick between one of the three Keyblades, so he quickly approached them and raised his hand to grab the closest one as soon as he had reached the blades, only to pause when he heard a voice calling out in his head, saying something strange about the Keyblade he was reaching for. "The Guardian Wind. Powerful for those who wish for a quick decisive end, but also ideal for those fight in the most unique ways."

Roxas was now hesitant to use this blade, as he was not really one to fight in a way that was too far outside the norm. Sure, there were times when he had practiced fighting with two Struggle bats instead of one, but that was about as far as he ever went. He was not too fond of trying to learn something how to fight with a backhand grip like he had seen Ventus use in the dreams, because as simple as it seemed, he was sure that it was much more complicated than it looked. He then moved to grab the red and silver blade, and heard the voice say, "The Bond of Flame. A strong representation of the ties between friends, and an ideal choice of those who fight with powerful magic."

As much as he liked the sound of the first thing that the blade represented, Roxas was not too fond of magic. He may not have used any yet like Xion had, but he much preferred to get in close and fight something head-on, not just attack from a distance like how he had seen Donald, Ven, or Sora normally do in his dreams whenever they cast spells. With that said, he knew that there was only one blade left, so he immediately turned to it, listening once again before making any attempts to actually grab the blade. "The Oblivion. Though its power may contain traces of the place in shadows, the bond it represents shows great strength, power, and courage."

Roxas did not wait to hear anything else after that, because what he had just heard was certainly good enough for him, so he grabbed hold of Oblivion's handle, and watched the other Keyblades disappear, while Oblivion itself glowed a little before it was replaced with the Keyblade he had wielded the other day. A few practice swings allowed Roxas to get a better feel for the rather basic looking Keyblade, and he managed to get a good handle on it when he saw the silver creatures that had attacked him and Xion earlier finally slink out of the clouds towards him. He barely spared them more than a glance before he turned and began to fight them off, making quick work of the strange enemies with just a few simple moves. When the last creature was vanquished, Roxas was about to return to his search for Xion when a large, ornate door appeared before him.

"Be careful," the voice from before cautioned him. "Beyond that door lies a completely different world. But don't be afraid. Don't stop walking…"

Roxas was unsure of what to do. He did not want to go forward without his sister, but considering that there did not seem to be too many other places here that Xion could be, he had to acknowledge that he had no other choice but to go on. Besides, for all he knew, she could be on the other side of this door, so he immediately stepped through to whatever was waiting for him on the other side, hoping that he would find both Xion and a few answers wherever he ended up afterwards.

---

The twins had no idea that they were both going through the exact same situations, aside from one or two small details like the three Keyblades that they had to choose from, and it remained that way as they continued through the strange stations, right until they finally reunited once again after crossing through a second ornate door and into one station, where they found themselves standing across said tower from the other when they emerged from their respective doors. When they realized that their other sibling was finally within sight again, they immediately closed the distance and wrapped each other in a tight hug, just to confirm that they were both real. Once they were satisfied, they released each other from the hug, and immediately started talking at the same time.

"You won't believe what I just went through! There were these three Keyblades that I had to choose from, and after I did, the Keyblade appeared in my hand and I ended up fighting off more of those weird silver things all the way over to here," Roxas and Xion both exclaimed at once. When they realized that they had both said the exact same thing, they froze a little in surprise before they both said, "Wait, what?"

"Okay, maybe Pence was right the other day when he said that this whole thing is creepy," Roxas confessed, referring to how he and Xion had both said the exact same thing at the same time just now.

"I'm pretty sure that only applies in cases like this," Xion shrugged, even if she was a little creeped out as well by the whole thing. She then became a little more excited as she said, "Either way, it was just so cool, being able to use the Keyblade like that! Did it feel that awesome for you when you got it a couple days ago? What am I saying? Of course it did, because I still feel really awesome whenever I summon it! Just watch!"

Despite all the weirdness that was taking place, Roxas was glad to see that Xion was still her usual self, but he was quickly surprised when Xion summoned forth the Keyblade to her hand, still grinning like an overly excited child in a candy store. Her excitement would have been contagious and gotten Roxas to grin and cheer as much as she was, had they not suddenly sensed a presence from somewhere behind them. They quickly turned around to see if there were more silver creatures coming out, determined to remind them why they were not to be messed with, but their confidence slowly started to slip when they saw a much different, and much, much bigger monster had arisen before them instead.

The monster before them was gargantuan, to say the least, and appeared to be completely clad in a white body suit, if one were to judge by the silver zipper running up its front. Its head was completely blank, save for the odd symbol that was on all of the silver creatures from before where a face would have been, while four long, blue tentacles wrapped around its neck like a scarf, the tips of which were pointed in the same way as the spikes on the symbol adorning its face. Its waist was rather thin, had dark grey sides, and led into thick, short legs with spikes on its hips and long pointed feet, which appeared to have high-heels on the ankles. It shoulders each sported a giant, diamond-shaped spike, and its arms were so long that they appeared to reach all the way to the floor. From what Roxas and Xion could see, it looked like there was only one distinct digit on both of its hands, that being the thumb, but somehow, they doubted that this thing was going to need a full set of fingers to crush them if it wanted to, and it definitely seemed like it wanted to. Regardless of how intimidating this thing was, Roxas and Xion were not afraid of it, at least not to the point where they were frozen in fear or trying to find a way to get some distance from it out of a desperate panic. Instead, they readied their Keyblades, exchanged a quick nod, and prepared to face this beast with everything that they could.

After studying their opponent for a few minutes in silence, Xion had to spare her brother a quick glance and ask, "So how do we do this? It's not like this is another street fight or Struggle match with Seifer and his cronies."

"Doesn't mean we can't use some of those same skills against this guy," Roxas pointed out, apparently not noticing how some strange thorns were steadily surrounding them. "We can just hit it in a two-pronged attack. You go left, I'll go right, and we basically try to keep him off balance while watching for…" Roxas never got to finish his sentence, as he and Xion were both suddenly lifted up into the air and found themselves restrained by several of the energy thorns. He struggled a little for a minute, trying to see if he could get any kind of movement, only to find little success. "Can't move. Can you?"

"Nope, not really," Xion confessed, even as she struggled to move one of her arms down. The creature then suddenly slinked right in front of them, making them jump a little, and then drew its fist back like it was getting ready to slug them. Xion then noticed that she whatever was immobilizing her had loosened on all but one of her wrists, and quickly shouted, "Roxas, get ready to jump when I tell you!"

"What?! Xion," Roxas started to protest, but his sister was not going to hear it.

"Just do it," the raven haired girl shouted. She then watched the creature as closely as she could, waiting for when it finally took a swing at them, and just when it's massive fist was about to collide with them, she shouted, "NOW!"

At Xion's signal, the two siblings jumped as best as they could, and spun over the large fist, using the thorns that were still tightly restraining one of their arms as a way to swing back down while they swung the Keyblades at the creature. Both blades struck true, knocking the monster well away from them, but it did nothing to break them free of their bonds, and the monster did not stay far away from them for too long. When it finally stopped flying back, it hovered a few feet outside the boundaries of the tower and then lifted its arms up so that they could snake all the way back towards the siblings, capturing them in both hands. The creature then pulled itself forward so that it could glare down at them, or at least what they assumed was its way of glaring at them, before tossing them both up into the air and drawing back so that it could slap them both down.

This time it was Roxas who gave the signal, as he saw a chance to knock this thing down again when he finally righted himself and realized that he was no longer restrained. The minute he shouted for Xion to move, both siblings spun over the massive fists and landed a powerful hit to the beast's head. When the two landed, they watched as the creature fell to the ground and then slid off the tower completely, making them think that they had won for a minute. Sadly, they were soon reminded that nothing was ever that easy, as they felt the tower shake beneath their feet and then start to tip over a little. Thinking quickly, Roxas immediately stabbed the Keyblade into the ground and then grabbed Xion with his free hand before she fell past him and into the void below. If she were being honest though, Xion probably would have preferred that over the sight of the massive energy sphere that this massive monster was powering up over its head as it hung from the other end of the tower.

When the creature finally dropped from the tower, Roxas's Keyblade came loose from where it had been stabbed, and both siblings were quickly falling, straight towards the energy sphere that would surely be their end. Neither one was planning to go down easily, and after they had righted themselves, Roxas and Xion made that very clear with a quick toss of their Keyblades. The mystical weapons went right through the sphere, making it literally explode right in the monster's face, while the shockwave knocked the siblings a little ways back from where they had previously been hanging in the air. When they finally fell to the ground again, it was only seconds before the Keyblades stabbed into the ground a few feet away from them, and the monster soon after with a crash. Xion shook in fear a little from how close they had been from being stabbed by their own weapons or crushed by the massive monstrosity, but seeing Roxas stand up and pull his own Keyblade from the ground helped her to shake it off and retrieve her own blade. With that done, the two immediately set to work making sure that this thing attacking them would stay down for the count by hitting it in the head as much as they could.

They were not quite fast enough, as the creature soon spun itself into an upright position again, and at a speed that did not seem normal for something of that size, and then back flipped while swinging one, extended arm across the entirety of the tower. Xion barely managed to jump over the arm, but Roxas was not so lucky, and had to pull a quick, mid-air recovery so that he would not land flat on his face, but they were not done dodging this thing just yet. As the monster slowed down in its spin, it seemed to release a series of thorns that spun out towards the two, but Xion and Roxas were able to dodge them quickly enough and then used the thorns so that they could propel themselves towards the beast. They did not do so by swinging from them with their bare hands, since they were sure that touching these things was not very safe, but thankfully, the Keyblades were able to help them spin around these things like a smooth, metal pole. Once they were close enough, the two unleashed every single form of slash and stab that they could on the monster's head, with Xion pausing every so often to unleash a blast of ice magic whenever she saw a chance to do so. She was honestly surprised that she could throw out a spell so easily now, but given the circumstances, she was not going to question it.

Despite having to endure a few more strange tactics and maneuvers from this beast, the twins were able to keep up their pace with this pattern until finally, the creature began to wobbled and shake dangerously while it let out a strange sound that made them think that it was not going to be standing for much longer. Apparently, the Keyblades thought so too, because the minute that they had touched down on the ground again at a rather safe distance from the monster, both blades vanished from their hands just as they had come. Xion and Roxas both would have preferred to have kept the blades a little longer, but considering what was about to happen, they were not sure it would have made a difference. When the monster finally tipped over, they knew it was likely going to crash down on them, so they did the only sensible thing that they could: they ran for it!

Thankfully, they avoided getting crushed, but they were not so lucky to avoid the storm of dark energy that erupted from the beast when it collapsed, and soon after, all they saw was blackness, while they also felt as though something was pulling them down. Roxas and Xion both tried their best to break free of whatever it was that was trying to drown them in these strange shadows, but no matter how they thrashed, kicked, or waved, they could not break free of whatever it was that had a hold of them. Eventually, they could feel themselves losing consciousness, and while Xion eventually passed out, Roxas managed to keep enough of wits about him to register a soft, dainty hand grabbing hold of his own just before a strange light seemed to finally drive away whatever it was that was pulling them down.

---

Xion was not sure how long she had been out, but when she finally came around, she noticed that she was being gently held up in someone's arms, and while they were the arms of a boy, she could tell quickly enough that they were not her brother's. Upon opening her eyes, Xion was greeted by a black hood that hid her rescuer's face, or at least she assumed this person was a rescuer. After another moment or two, she was soon gaining a feeling of déjà vu as well, because this seemed very similar to something that she had seen in her dreams last night. So much so in fact, that she did not even realize she was just silently staring up at the stranger until he spoke to her in a deep, baritone voice.

"Are you okay," the man in black asked.

"Um…Y-yeah," Xion nodded, not sure why she was suddenly feeling so warm. After another moment or so, she finally asked, "Are you…?"

"I'm Sora's friend," the stranger replied as simply as he could, and in the same manner as the last person who had said that to her.

"Sora's…You're Riku," Xion exclaimed as she quickly sat up. When the stranger gave no indication of whether or not she was right, she became a little less sure and asked, "You are Riku, aren't you?"

The stranger still kept silent, even as he offered her a hand up, which she graciously accepted, until he finally said, "Sorry about swiping your munny yesterday, but I was told it was for your own safety. Yours and your brother's."

"Our safety? From what," Xion asked, now even more confused than before.

The stranger did not answer her, but instead, opened a black portal and instructed, "Go on through here. Your brother is waiting on the other side."

Xion studied him for a minute, trying to find any kind of deceit, until she finally just accepted that she had no other choice one way or the other. After all, wherever she was, all she knew was that the place was really dark, and there was no other sign of an exit. So, with a rather heavy sigh, she stepped forward and into the portal without another word. Though she did gasp a little when she heard one final comment from the stranger in black. "It was good to see you again, Xion. I'm glad you've become your own person now."

---

Roxas could barely see anything at first, his eyes having been nearly blinded by the sudden explosion of light, but when he managed to rub the spots from his eyes, he realized that he was in a room that was entirely white, right to the point that you could just barely make out that there was anything else there to lean against or sit on without there already being something or someone in such a position. Proof of this came from the fact that the mystery blonde girl from before was sitting on something just a few feet off the floor, but he was more blown away by her beautiful smile than anything else. After staring at her for a few moments, Roxas opened his mouth to say something, but he was not entirely sure what he would say. Maybe it was one of the questions his large plethora of them, or even a word of thanks for her saving him, because he was sure that was her, but either way, it did not matter.

Just before Roxas could utter a single sound, the blonde girl raised a single finger to her lips and quietly shushed him, indicating that he should keep quiet for a moment. When she saw that Roxas was not going to say anything, she smiled a little more as she indicated herself and said, "My name is Naminé."

"Naminé," Roxas repeated in his head. He would have done so out loud, but the blonde had indicated that he should be quiet for a moment, and he was not sure if that was still the case or not. That did not stop him from thinking anything though. "Such a beautiful name."

Either Roxas's thoughts were very apparent in his face or the blonde was able to read minds, because Naminé seemed to blush a little after that last thought had gone through his head. Seeing that just made him think she looked even cuter, but her next question for him left him more than a little confused. "Roxas, do you remember your original name?"

"My…original name," Roxas repeated, this time out loud.

The sound of a portal opening finally made the two blondes pull their eyes away from one another, and they turned to said portal just in time to see Xion rush through. When she saw Roxas, the raven haired girl immediately quickened her pace until she was close enough to tackle him with a quick hug. "I'm so glad you're okay," Xion sighed in relief. She then noticed the other blonde in the room and let go of her brother before launching into a bit of a rant. "Hey, what's the big idea, leading us into that ambush like that?! Are you trying to get us killed or something? And how did you even know that we could use the Keyblade?"

"Hey, calm down, Xion! It's not like its Naminé's fault that those things showed up," Roxas immediately scolded in the blonde girl's defense.

At another time, Xion would have teased Roxas for how fiercely he was protecting a girl that he claimed to not have feelings for, but Naminé had another strange comment to make, this time to Xion. "Speaking of original things, Xion, do you remember your original purpose? The one you rebelled against so that you could come and ask me for help?"

"My what," Xion asked. "Look whatever it is you're talking about, we don't know or remember anything about it. Can't you just tell us?"

"I have to agree with my sister on this, Naminé," Roxas admitted, his eyes softening in silent apology for fear of sounding like he was interrogating her. "You said you could give us some answers, so please, at least tell us something?"

Naminé just smiled at the two and said, "Of course, but I'm afraid I might only have time to answer one question, so think carefully about what you want to ask."

The two only needed to exchange one quick look between each other to know what question they both wanted answered more than anything right now. "Why have we been having those dreams of Sora, or the ones about us being part of some group of guys in black coats," Roxas asked on both of their behalves. "Can you tell us anything about that?"

Naminé nodded in reply and said, "They're not just dreams. They're much more powerful than that. The ones about yourselves are old memories slowly resurfacing past the ones that were created to help protect you from that very group. Same with the ones about Sora."

"But why are we seeing those memories about Sora when we're clearly not in them, and how come we don't remember anything about being part of that group," Xion prodded.

This time, Naminé hesitated for a moment, glancing around as if to make sure that no one else was watching or listening in, before she finally said, "I can't tell you the answer to the second question just yet, but as for the first question, because you two hold a very special connection to Sora."

"Huh," was all that either sibling could say in reply. They were about to further question Naminé on this, when the stranger in black suddenly appeared and hoisted Naminé to her feet.

"Your time's up, Naminé," the stranger cautioned.

"But if we don't tell them more than this, Roxas and Xion may both…" Naminé tried to protest, but the stranger cut her off.

"It can't be helped now." The stranger paused for a minute before he added in a very low whisper that Roxas and Xion almost did not hear. "There will be another chance later."

It was at this moment when Roxas realized who the man was, and quickly turned a bit angry. "Hey! You're that pickpocket from yesterday!"

"Back off Roxas! Riku already said he was sorry," Xion tried to tell her brother, but he was more caught on the name that Xion had just addressed the pickpocket by.

Right when Roxas was about to question his sister on that very fact, they both jumped a little as another dark portal appeared behind them, and they were suddenly pushed through. Before Roxas blacked out again, he heard the stranger whisper, "Don't think I've forgotten about that rematch you promised we'd have one day, Roxas. After all, I want to see what you've got when neither one of us are holding back."

---

"Seifer, strike a pose, y'know," was the first thing that Xion heard when she started coming around again.

"How's this," Seifer's voice asked, and the camera click that followed ended up being what drew Roxas back to world of the living, at least to the point where he could start getting himself up again.

"That's totally perfect, y'know," Rai cheered, just as both siblings finally opened their eyes to see Seifer standing over them while Fuu took pictures of them with her camera and Rai continued to encourage him to take a few more poses. Vivi seemed to be following his big friend's lead, but Xion could have sworn that she saw the little guy glancing over at her and her brother in a weird way every so often.

Another camera flash and a request for another photo that would likely depict her and her brother in an embarrassing light finally got Xion's blood boiling enough so that she was jumping to her feet and demanding, "Hey, what do you think you're doing?!"

"Yeah, what's that for," Roxas snapped once he was on his feet too.

"Keepsake," Fuu replied after putting her camera away.

"So you decided that it would be better to take photos of your boss instead of checking to see if we were all right? We could've been hurt and all you guys cared about was making Seifer look good at our expense," Xion snarled, ready to pounce on any one of the other four if they said the wrong thing. She noticed Roxas steadily moving closer to her, obviously preparing to hold her back if that did happen, but she really did not care. In her eyes, if these guys needed to be taught a lesson, then she would teach it to them.

Thankfully, they did not say anything that would have upset Xion, but it did not entirely calm her down either. "Hey, we did check to see if you were really hurt or not, but it looked like you were just passed out, y'know?"

"No problems," Fuu added on.

"Besides, those freaks in the white jumpsuits are gone now, y'know," Rai informed them.

"Cakewalk."

"Yeah, for us, you mean," Xion muttered under her breath. She would have said it a little louder, but given the warning look Roxas had been giving her after Rai's second statement, she knew that it would probably be smarter to keep it to herself. It was not like they really needed to defend themselves to these guys, or they would even believe anything that just happened to them.

"Do you have any idea what those…things were," Roxas asked when he saw that his sister was calm enough.

"Yeah. Outsiders, that's what," Seifer assuredly replied, earning a disbelieving sigh from both siblings as they shook their heads at his simplistic views. "And if they don't wise up to the rules around here, I might have to take 'disciplinary measures.'"

"Oh yeah, Seifer's always lookin' after the town, y'know," Rai agreed with a boastful pose.

"If by 'looking after the town' you mean basically pushing everyone around so that they do whatever he wants them to, then yeah, we do know," Xion retorted.

If either of the bigger boys were going to counter her response, they had quickly dropped it when they all noticed Fuu turning towards the entrance to the back alley leading to where Roxas and Xion usually hung out with their friends. When they turned to see what had caught the soft-spoken girl's attention, Roxas and Xion's hearts sank a little, because there, standing at the entrance to the alley, were Hayner, Pence, and Olette, and all three of them were clearly throwing some disappointed looks at the siblings. Hayner's look vanished quickest though, but only so it could be replaced by a hurt glare before he turned and rushed away, with the other two following him soon after.

"Hayner, wait," Xion called out as she gave chase.

"It's not what you guys think," Roxas added, barely paying any mind to Seifer's warning to not chicken out of the tournament tomorrow.

The two did not stop until they had finally reached the Usual Spot, where they found their three friends already seated around the place with sea-salt ice cream in hand. Only Hayner was eating any of it though, as the other two were just looking down at the ground in sadness. For once, the Usual Spot did not have an air of relaxation about it, but instead, a very tense awkwardness that the siblings knew they held some responsibility for. The silence that filled the room did nothing to make it any better, and when Pence finally broke it, his question did not help things either.

"So…you guys hung out with Seifer's gang today," Pence asked.

"N-no! It's not like that," Roxas insisted. "You and Olette knew we weren't doing that."

"Yeah, we told you that we were doing something really important," Xion tried to tell them, but she was not really sure what else they could say about what had happened to them that day. Thankfully, Roxas thought something that would probably help to alleviate the tension between all of them.

"Hey, how was the beach? Wasn't that today," Roxas asked, trying to make his voice a little more cheerful in an attempt to lighten the mood a bit more. Unfortunately, he did not succeed.

"We didn't go," Olette told him. "It wouldn't be the same without you guys, right?"

Roxas just hung his head in response, while Xion did the same as she rubbed her arm a little as she muttered, "Sorry…"

"How did your little 'mission' go anyway? Did you two find that girl," Olette asked, sounding honestly curious when she did.

"Uh…" Xion and Roxas both said, not really sure what they could tell their friends right now. It was probably okay to tell them that they learned Naminé's name, but from what Riku, or whoever that man in black was had indicated, if they said the wrong thing, they could put Naminé in trouble. When they did not say anymore though, the others took their hesitance to mean that they were unsuccessful, and just shrugged it off.

Xion was not going to just let it get away though, and said, "Hey…how about we go to the beach tomorrow? We could get those pretzels, the girl might show up there, and…"

"I promised I'd be somewhere," Hayner said, finally taking a breath from his ice cream to speak up, albeit in a short clipped tone.

That one statement was all Xion needed to hear to know she had just messed up. She knew that Hayner was referring to the promise that he had made with both herself and Roxas about the Struggle tournament tomorrow, and her suggestion to go to the beach tomorrow likely made him think that she had completely forgotten about it. In truth, she actually had for a moment, but only because she was so concerned about trying to cheer her friends up. Sure, it was not a good excuse, but it was the only one that Xion had at the moment. Her mistake had also made Roxas flinch a little bit too, and Hayner took that the wrong way as well, so he immediately stormed out without another word to either of the siblings. Xion tried calling out to him, but Hayner did not seem to want to hear her and just kept on marching for home.

"Don't worry about him," Olette tried to reassure Xion, knowing that she was trying to cheer everyone up. "He just needs some time to cool off. You'll see."

"I hope you're right, Olette," Roxas sighed.

---

"Restoration at 48 percent," the computer reported, but DiZ was not in a good enough mood to really pay attention at the moment. The reason was clear as day to the room's other occupants, and DiZ knew that to be a fact, just like he knew that they had something to do with what had happened. He did not have any proof of this, but he just knew that was the case, and their supposed ignorance of the facts just made him even more upset.

"Was that Naminé made of data," the hooded man that Xion had called Riku asked, sounding honestly curious when he did.

"No. Naminé hijacked the data herself," DiZ replied, doing his best to keep his voice even and calm, so as not to give away any clues of his anger towards the other two. "Look what she's done now. She's totally beyond my control!"

Apparently DiZ suddenly slamming a fist into one of his many keyboards out of anger was not incentive enough for Ventus to keep quiet, because he went on ahead with his retort despite the masked man's anger. "Wow, someone with their own mind and sense of will is beyond your control? Who would have thought that other people could actually think for themselves? Truly a marvel of a discovery!"

The blatant sarcasm in Ventus's voice was enough to make DiZ jump up from his chair and turn a heated glare at the Keyblade master, showing he was not able to keep himself in check any longer. "Don't pretend like you had nothing to do with this," DiZ outright accused. "You put that meddling little witch up to this! I know you did! That Nobody wouldn't have ever thought of doing something like that on her own!"

"Oh please! Even if I did, she wouldn't have needed any 'prompting' to do that. I know you're not so blinded by hate to have missed the way Naminé and Roxas looked at each other the first time they met, or how she and Xion had connected after the girl came here looking for a way to help Sora," Ventus retorted just as angrily, his fingers already flexing in a way to suggest he was seconds away from summoning his Keyblade. "And another thing: I thought I told you to never call her a witch! At the very least, not when you're in my presence."

"Calm down! Both of you," the hooded man cautioned, having easily sensed how the tension between the two was liable to explode at any moment. Having these two fight it out in this place would have caused far more harm than they needed right now, and they could not risk any of the equipment being destroyed before their task was done.

DiZ held his glare on Ventus for a few more moments before he finally took a deep breath and retook his previous, glancing over at the keypad he had previously struck to make sure it was not damaged when he did. "It doesn't matter in the end, either way," DiZ finally said when he was calm enough. "As long as Naminé accomplishes her goal we needn't worry about what befalls Roxas and the puppet."

"Her name is Xion, and I think you should be very worried about what may happen to them," Ventus reminded the masked man. "After all, if anything does happen to either of them, it'll be me you answer too."

Ventus then spun on his heel and left the room in a huff, leaving DiZ with that final warning. If the blonde had stuck around though, he would have heard DiZ's response to his latest warning. "Oh believe me, I remember that quite well, Master Ventus, but I'm not the least bit worried about you. It's the other Keyblade master that I'm more concerned about, assuming she somehow hears about any harm that may come to these Nobodies."

Despite his words though, DiZ actually was just as worried about what Ventus could do to him if he found out about the masked man's true intentions towards the siblings and Naminé. Although, if he were to be completely honest, he was even more worried about which of the two masters would get to him first. Even more terrifying though was what would happen if they both got to him at the same time, and that thought actually made DiZ shiver a little in fear. Not that anyone really noticed, or that it was enough to make him change his plans. He had already come too far to stop now, and he would be damned if he let anyone stop him.

---

Naminé's Diary Entry 1:

I've never had a diary before, so I'm not entirely sure what to write in here. I mean, I've heard about what some people would write in these things, but considering that it was Larxene who gave it to me, I don't think I'll be writing too much. I'm pretty sure she only gave this to me so that she could steal it away and look for any new material to torture me with. (The fact that she's looking over my shoulder right now in an attempt to see what I'm writing is a pretty big clue that she can't wait for very long, too.)

So let's see…well, my name's Naminé, I've lived my entire existence of a few days or weeks in this place called Castle Oblivion (I can't really say for sure since the sky outside the window does not ever seem to change with the passing days, and there's no calendar or anything anywhere in my room, or the castle as far as I know), and I love to draw. Like, a lot. Of course, most of my pictures are of this boy named Sora. I don't know how, but I know a lot about him, and his friends, Donald, Goofy, Ventus, Riku, and Kairi. All I know is that I'm a Nobody, someone who was born without a heart, but I don't know who's Nobody I am. I'm not entirely sure what it means to be a Nobody, but Axel and the others tell me that's what we all are, and that I'm apparently a really special kind of Nobody. If I'm so special though, then why do they call me a witch? I mean sure, I have the power to go into Sora's memories, and those of the people connected to his heart, and change them a little, and do a few other things that no one else can do with magic, but aren't witches supposed to be mean and ugly? I just want to meet someone nice and make some real friends. I doubt that will ever happen though, considering that Marluxia and the others never let me leave my room, let alone the castle.

I guess you're wondering why I'm writing this down when I'm worried about Larxene stealing this so she can find new material to torture me with. Well, this is all stuff that she and the others already know about, so there's no way she could use it against me. She already knows she's a mean bully (and I think she takes that kind of thing as a compliment), but what I'm really worried about is how they all seem so sure that we'll be receiving guests soon. Not that I'm complaining or anything, but whom in their right mind would come to Castle Oblivion? And why do I have a bad feeling I'm not going to like whatever part they have me play in this person's stay?

---

AN: Well, that's a wrap on one of the most important days of Summer Vacation: the day we met Naminé. Yeah, who else just knew that Xion was going to go a little crazy with teasing Roxas about his newfound crush on our favorite Nobody sorceress?

Xion&Axel: [both raise their hands up immediately]

AN: I was talking to the audience, you guys. That means besides you two.

Xion&Axel: [lower their hands] Sorry.

AN: Anyways, naturally Naminé had a bit more dialogue here, for obvious reasons, and a little more, and then there's the whole fact that Roxas and Xion shared that they were both having the same weird dreams, because yeah, all the dreams we've seen so far have been had by both of them, including the memories of the Organization. It just seemed like the perfect time for them to reveal that info, otherwise, it would've been dragged out for far too long, to the point of being either silly, ridiculous, or just plain stupid.

Roxas: Not to mention that you alluded to the fact that our memories of a certain old friend of ours were a bit stronger here than they were in canon.

AN: Yeah, did everyone catch that? Because that should've been something that is seriously obvious. Moving along to the Dive to the Heart for the siblings. Obviously it was kept as short as it was in game, but like it has been so far with this series, it was not left at the choice between the sword, the shield, and the wand. Instead, it was left to a choice between three Keyblades, and I'm sure you all see the significance of them here. If you don't, I'll lay it out for you as simple as I can:

For Xion: the choices she had helped to display her nature as a replica that was originally created using Sora's most precious memories (those being his memories of Kairi), and how she's connected to both Sora and Kairi, and anyone else who's connected to both of them. That one being Aqua. I honestly would've gone with something else, but Aqua's Keyblade just seemed like the best option as the third choice here.

For Roxas: his choices represented his connection to Sora via a mysterious past that Roxas has with Riku (as you've probably guessed from the end of the chapter here), his relation to Ventus, and of course, the fact that both he and Sora value the bond they share with their best friend. I know some people probably think that Xion is the one who gave Roxas the ability to use Oblivion at the same time as Oathkeeper, while the latter is one that Roxas can use by default, but aside from the reasons I had listed for Xion, I honestly think that Oblivion is just the Keyblade that Roxas would use the most if he had to choose between the two.

And finally, the coup-de-grace...

Naminé: You know, it's a little mean to post stuff from a girl's diary for all to see.

AN: For the last time, woman, it's not your actual diary! It's just something that follows the same principle behind Ven's Journal Entries. Yeah, you heard right, Naminé's diary is making a little debut here in the Keyblades Unleashed series, by filling in a few blanks on what all happened during the events of Chain of Memories in this timeline, as well as the things that happened afterwards. That's why I once said that those journal entries would have a more significant role in this story than they did in Dual Keys. It covers all the bases by having entries from the journals of various characters, and there's still at least one person's journal left to unveil, maybe even more.

Roxas: Why do I have a sneaking suspicion about when we'll see some of the last few individuals' journals?

AN: I don't know. Why do you have a sneaking suspicion about when we'll see some of the last few individuals' journals?

Roxas:...Uhhhh...

AN: Ah well. Probably not too important anyway (Or is it?), so for now, let's get on to the important part of the ending author's notes?

Ventus: Hang on. Aren't we going to talk about the confrontation between me and DiZ, or what was implied there?

AN: No, I think it was pretty self-explanatory. Now if there are no further interruptions, Onto the Preview!...

The day of the Struggle tournament is here, and despite any bad blood there might be between Hayner and the siblings, Roxas and Xion are definitely excited for the big event. Thankfully, those problems are quickly resolved, and the whole gang is able to have all the fun that they can. Or at least it seems that way, until another round of strangeness strikes Roxas and Xion, only this time, it includes someone who claims to be from the past that they cannot remember. Just who is this tall man with flaming red hair, and if he really is their friend, then why is he attacking them? Find out what comes from day four, next time.

Yep, it's time to get ready to Struggle! And we all know who shows up during and after that big event. I'll bet everyone's excited about that. Until then though...

Please read and review, and see ya real soon!