A/N: Sorry for the late update, but y'all know kh3 is out and it left me in pieces. The new information that was revealed about Lea and Isa's past won't affect anything because it'll just have to happen after my story ends.

In any case, thank you for all the reviews and support. It means a lot to me and I'm grateful to have this opportunity to share with you guys :)

Wayfinder

"What a peculiar subject, it doesn't appear he's from here."

"Great deduction, captain obvious."

"I mean to say he's not of this world, or any other. Allow me some time to research him in order to produce a more in-depth analysis."

"Whatever. Just make sure he stays out of the way, if I find he's escaped, then I'll deal with him myself."

"Oh that won't be a problem, Ienzo fetch me the caliper."

A blinding white light forced Roxas to wake up and he found himself restrained to a steel table. "So you've awoken," Said the taller of the two scientists. He smiled at Roxas in a peculiar way, taking sadistic delight when the color drained from his face. "Do you know where you're from, boy?"

"Wouldn't you like to know," Roxas said.

His comment merely made one of his withering eyebrows arch and he proceeded to probe him. "It'll be less painless if you answer my questions." He raised his head. "Ienzo, the scissors."

Roxas dwelled on the scientist's face, recognizing his sunken features. "Right- you're Vexen." He muttered. "Let me out of here, now!"

"Even." He corrected. "You've seen me somewhere before? You really are from a different reality."

Even leaned closer to Roxas' face, then snipped off a lock of his hair. "Run this sample through the computer, Ienzo."

"How do you know that?!"

"Because someone who looks exactly like you came by here recently asking about some dreaded 'Terra'. You're obviously not him, unless you happen to be a pair of identical twins."

"Identi- what?"

"Didn't think so. Alternate reality is just one of many hypotheses I thought of. Unfortunately, if that means I'm right, you won't be here for very long."

"What're you talking about?!" He struggled to get out of his restraints. "Ugh! I said, let me out of here!"

"Absolutely not."

"But I uh...I really have to go to the bathroom!"

"Please, even if I was stupid enough to believe such a cliche excuse, we have plenty of disposable units right here in this lab."

'Damn it, that was my best shot. Come on, I need to think of an actual plan, what would Xion do right now? Actually she'd probably slap me right now...so what would not-mad-at-me Xion do?'

"Looks like you've given up on escape, good. Now, Ienzo, the heart extraction scanner."

Ienzo shook his head.

"Oh that's right, it's in Master Ansem's study. I'll go fetch it, you watch over our dear patient here very closely."

He propped up a chair close to Roxas and opened up a book.

'I think I have an idea, I just need to distract him.' Roxas turned his head over to Ienzo, then placed his hands on the underside of the restraints and applied a slow burning fire spell "...Zexion, I can't believe you're just a little kid now."

"How do you know who I am?"

"You heard him, I don't belong here."

"I can believe that, but the name 'Zexion', it's an anagram for my name with an 'X', right? So is Vexen."

"What's a ana..uh…"

"Anagram." He supplied. "Wherever you're from, me and Mr. Even must be there too."

"Yeah I guess." 'Does that mean my name is an anagram too?'

"Then if my hypothesis is right, can you tell me anything about me from your reality?"

"Oh yeah, you'll become a nobody." He answered frankly.

"Well that's not very nice."

"Don't worry about it, I'm like you too." Finally, Roxas broke free from the restraints.

"Get back here! I'll call the castle guard right now!"

"Yeah, go ahead."

Roxas ran out of the laboratory and down the arched hallways. He could hear the thump-thump-thump sound of marching footsteps echoing throughout the castle, homing in on his location and growing louder the longer he stalled. Riding on the path of a snap judgement decision, Roxas flew down a set of stairs into the lower level of the castle where the pipelines etched deep into the walls. No longer hearing the anxiety inducing footsteps chasing after him, he wandered around the facility, hoping to find a way out.

However, the further he ventured through the basement, the less likely that option seemed to be the case. The basement was wholly empty with the only ones to keep him company were the occasional unversed he swatted away and his own troubling thoughts that began ringing loudly in his head. 'You should've listened to Xion, now she probably hates you. I thought I was doing her a favor, but I just put myself in even more danger. Why the hell am I so stupid. What's wrong with me?!'

"Ven...Ven?!" A voice he didn't recognize called out to him, it startled him a bit, but he was nonetheless relieved not to be alone.

The voice belonged to a tall, muscular young man with spiky brown hair and a handsome face to match. He ran up to Roxas, not looking as happy as he was to see him. "What're you doing here, Ven? You shouldn't be playing around at a place like this, it's crawling with unversed."

"Yeah I know, but it's not like I wanted to be here."

He crossed his arms. "I don't like your attitude, Ventus."

"How many times do I have to say that I'm not Ventus!"

"I don't have time for your games, Ven! And what're you doing without your armor, how do you expect to leave this world without your keyblade glider?"

"A keyblade glider, that sounds cool!" 'It defensively sounds a lot better than using the darkness.'

"Yeah it is, er...don't get me off track!" Terra went quiet for a moment, thinking to himself. 'Maybe he isn't Ven, he might even be an unversed. There's only one way to know for sure.' "Ven, what's my name?"

"I...don't know."

"Then I know exactly what you are!" His keyblade, Earthshaker, formed in his hand. It was large and heavy, suiting a dark brown color and flat blade with a brass finish, a keyblade that would cut down any unversed easily.

Roxas, reading his movements, countered his keyblade with his own, catching Terra off guard.

"Didn't know the unversed could wield keyblades now!"

"I'm not the unversed!" Roxas shouted, struggling to hold his own under the weight of Terra's keyblade. "Listen, whoever this 'Ventus' kid is, I'm not him! My name is Roxas, I'm just looking for my friends!"

"Your friends?" With one look at his pleading eyes, Terra understood everything about him. His keyblade disappeared and he kneeled down to his level. "You left them, didn't you?"

"H-how did you know?"

Terra averted his eyes. "Let's just say I've had experience. I know a kid like you thinks he can do everything by himself, but any path you take, you should never take one where you have to walk alone."

"But...aren't you alone?"

"That's not the point."

"Shouldn't you follow your own advice if you're giving it to someone else?"

"Well, it's not my fault she doesn't trust me and wants to stalk me instead!"

"...Come on, don't give me that look, back me up here." Terra sighed, then stood up. "You'll understand when you're older."

"I'm not the one who still has to grow up."

"Heh, you and Ventus are cut from the same cloth." He ruffled Roxas' hair much to his annoyance. "Regardless of what I choose to do, you need to go back to your friends, I have someone I need to find. You're better off going back the way you came."

"I can't or they'll find me! Let me come with you, at least for a little bit." His shoulders sank. "Please, I need to find her."

"Her?"

"Them! I, uh, I mean them! My friends, that's who I'm looking for."

"...fine."

"Wait, really?!"

He nodded. "But we go our separate ways once we reach the outer gardens."

—

"Ventus." Xion repeated, getting a feel for his name. That's when it dawned upon her how rude she was with someone who was by all accounts a stranger, so she bowed down apologetically and said in a remorseful tone, "I'm sorry I bothered you."

"Ah- you don't have to be so formal, I'm nobody important. You guys are looking for your friend, right? Then I'm on the same boat!"

"Something like that," Isa muttered. "I just don't know why you have such a punchable fa—"

"—He means that he doesn't know why you look identical to our friend Roxas!" Lea intruded. "You sure you don't know him?"

"No, sorry...but I wouldn't mind meeting him!"

"Well it does look like we're all going to the castle," Xion said. "We should team up to make things easier."

"Sure, why not? I'm going there to find my friend Terra, he's the coolest guy ever!"

"Can't say the same about Roxas," Isa remarked.

"But I'm sure he wouldn't mind you once he got to know ya," Lea said.

Isa rolled his eyes. "Or, knowing him, he'll try to kill you thinking you're one of those monsters, right Xion?"

"Maybe a little..." She admitted. "Roxas does have a habit of not thinking things through."

Ventus rubbed the back of his head. "Ok, now you guys got me kind of worried about meeting him."

"Don't worry, he's almost as unforgettable as yours truly! By the way, name's Lea, got it memorized?"

"It's better you forget him actually for the sake of your mental health. Oh, and I'm Isa." He ended his sentence with a smirk on his face.

Xion looked away from Ventus' face. "...I'm Xion."

"Call me Ven!" His face beamed with a welcoming smile across his face.

They continued down towards the castle, Xion kept to herself as the boys bounced off each other. To her, it was a natural reaction, after all, she still had mixed feelings on Roxas and having to look at that face of his, that face that told her so casually 'see you later' when he cast her aside. It was enough to set her over the edge, and that's not to mention she was busy wracking her brain over why of all the people he could look identical to, it had to be Roxas.

'I don't understand, is he Roxas before he was turned into a nobody? No it can't be, he acts nothing like Roxas, then again Isa acts nothing like Saïx, but you can still see traces of Isa's personality within him.' Xion stared at the back of Ventus' head, studying the spiky, disheveled mess brushing just over his shoulders. 'They even have the same stupid hairstyle, how is that possible?! And is it just me, or do they have the same voice too?'

Eventually, Ventus caught on to Xion and slowed down to her pace. Ashamed she was caught staring again, Xion gave her attention to the ground, which Ventus simply took as a sign of introversion. "I get the feeling you don't like me very much, huh," He said in an attempt to engage in light conversation.

"It's not you...w-well maybe it is, y-you look exactly like Roxas and..." She ran a hand through her hair, collecting herself. 'Why am I acting like this, it's embarrassing. He's not actually Roxas, so there shouldn't be a problem.' "Sorry, it's weird, I'm just kind of mad at him right now. If I act a little different towards you, it's nothing personal."

Before he could open his mouth again, a group of unversed materialized, then surrounded the four of them. Or rather, the two of them, since Lea and Isa decided they'd be better off taking cover.

Xion wasted no time in running ahead and engaging the unversed, relieved she was spared from continuing her awkward conversation with Ventus. After defeating one of the erratic creatures with relative ease, she raised her keyblade to her next target, only to clash with Ventus' own keyblade.

Xion pulled her keyblade back. "What's your problem, Roxas...sorry, I mean Ventus!"

"Don't sweat it, guess we went for the same one!"

The unversed took their chance while the two of them were distracted to knock them backwards. Ventus almost immediately sprung back on his feet, while Xion used her keyblade as leverage.

"You alright, Xion?" Ventus asked.

"I'm fine, don't worry about me." Xion pointed her keyblade at a cluster of unversed, enunciating a magnet spell that caused the unversed to bunch together into a magnetic vortex. Just as she was about to follow up with a thundara spell to clear them all out at once, Ventus saw it as an opportunity to strike them up close.

She lowered her keyblade and let out a shallow sigh. 'That's right, I can't expect him to know what I'm thinking.'

Once the magnet spell wore off, a few of the unversed still remained. Xion tried again to finish them off with a fire spell this time, but ended up burning Ventus' backside instead. "I-I'm so sorry Ventus!" She yelled out.

"It's okay, it's not a big deal!" Ventus' affinity with wind helped him put out the flames and he was relatively unscathed, save for a slightly charred uniform. He flashed a confident smile to reaffirm his sincerity to Xion, who managed a weak smile in return to hide her guilt.

Much to their surprise, the rest of the unversed dissipated into nothingness, their end marked by several arrow shards lying haphazardly on the ground. Xion picked up an arrow shard, knowing he wasn't far away.

"Don't take that as me helping you losers out or anything, just thought they'd get in the way." Sure enough, Braig was sitting high up on a building ledge with an insidious smirk that permeated his face. Xion struggled to suppress her own rage at his presence, and she owed it to the fact that Briag chose to keep himself at a distance this time around that she didn't immediately attack him.

Her hot temper was contrasted by Braig's cool demeanor, who merely saw the kids as nothing more than a nuisance he could toy around with. "Man, I knew I couldn't trust Vexen with holding you down, Roxas. Good thing you didn't get too far, I hate playing detective."

'He seems pretty serious, so at least that means Roxas escaped, but if he thinks Ventus is Roxas...' "We don't have Roxas either, so leave us alone!" Xion yelled.

Braig rolled his eyes. "Oh come on, I can see him right there! You think I was born yesterday?!"

'That was pretty silly of me to say that, so it doesn't look like we have a choice but to fight him.' "Well, you're not going to take any more of my friends away!"

"As if. Roxas left on his own, remember? Who's to say he won't abandon you again?"

"I came back, didn't I?!" Ventus shouted. "I will never leave her side! And if I'm not strong enough on my own, she'll make up the difference!"

Xion gazed at Ventus' face, his words stirred a reaction from deep within her and took captive the anger and doubt that lived inside whatever beat inside of her. His words were what Xion always wanted to hear from him, and through Ventus she was able to resonate the person she wanted to see the most.

'You didn't have to say that, Ven.'

She simply smiled at Ven, her first genuine smile towards him, which she found to carry deeper meaning than any half-assed attempt to put her thoughts into functioning words.

Spurred by the moment, Lea ran over Ventus and Xion's side in order to put in his own two cents. "Yeah, you won't be taking Roxas over our dead bodies! Get that memorized!"

"Lea, get back here! And don't include me too!" Isa hissed, still behind cover.

"What, I was just trying to make it sound more dramatic."

"Let's not put ideas in his head, okay," Ventus said.

"Nah, that's a great idea. Consider it done." Braig aimed his arrowguns at the sky and fired his arrows into the heavens. Before the arrows could dive back down onto the earth, Ventus jumped over to Braig and swung his keyblade at him.

Braig held the blade down with his hand in an effortless motion, anticipating how Ventus would react. He was just as quick to catch Xion's blade when she subsequently went in for an attack.

"You're too slow," Braig said.

"That's what I was hoping you would do!" With the point of her keyblade clenched in his hand, she was able to land a direct shot for her stop spell.

She pulled her keyblade away from his hand, then rose it again with the intent of a second strike. "You're not getting away from me this time!"

Xion and Ventus struck Braig in the chest with their keyblades and when the time spell wore off, he shot straight through the window of the building behind them.

"So...you think we defeated him?" Ventus asked after a few moments of silence.

"No," Xion said. "I need to see his face."

She was prepared to jump through the window after Braig, but Ventus quickly grabbed her by the arm. "What're you doing?!" She asked.

"He's obviously trying to lure you out. Let's stick together so we have a better chance of beating him!"

Xion let her hand slip away from his grasp. "I almost forgot...we're a team now!"

He nodded. "That's right, let's regroup for now."

Before they could descend from the building ledge, Braig burst out of the shattered window and snatched Ventus' head with his hand. He landed back on the ground, then held him up high enough so his feet dangled in the air.

"Sorry it has to be like this, but I can't let you keep slipping away from my fingers," Briag said in a low voice. Under his feet, a dark portal bubbled to the surface. "Don't worry, I'll come back, whenever my boss needs—" Something hit him in the back of his head, causing him to pause. The culprit was a plastic frisbee, settling onto the ground beside his foot.

Braig clocked his head around to Lea, petrified by fear as even he was surprised by his own actions. "Good to see you're not all talk," Was all he said before crushing the frisbee. "Too bad it's not an actual weapon or you might've had a shot, kid."

"Axel!" His momentary distraction allowed Xion enough time to catch up to Braig with her keyblade reeled back for another attack, but as she was about to reach him, a sphere of light blazed past her and enveloped Braig in a powerful, white light.

"Banish!" A voice yelled out.

The light amplified and blanketed the entire area, when it faded away, Braig was collapsed on the ground while Ventus was the one back on his feet.

"Thank goodness," Xion said, stopping to catch her breath. "I'm glad you're okay, Lea really came through."

"Yeah, thanks Lea, you're the best," Ventus said.

"Huh...oh I didn't really know what I was doing. I just kind of..." He trailed off when he saw Isa stomp over to him, seething with anger.

Lea smiled sheepishly at him. "What's up...Isa..."

"You're lucky that guy didn't hurt you or I would've killed you!" Isa grabbed Lea by the collar, then vigorously shook him back and forth until Lea's brain was practically seeping out of his ears. "What the hell is wrong with you?!"

'I've never Isa get so emotional, it's kind of endearing actually, in a scary way.' "Oh Ven, where do you think that light spell came from anyways. It was pretty powerful."

Ventus' cheerful facial expression darkened. "Y-You mean that wasn't you? Then, we need to get out of here!"

"What, why?"

"—Ventus!"

"That's why..."

A young woman with deep, blue hair approached Ventus, she wore a similar uniform to him and wielded a keyblade just like he did from the looks of the sleek, metallic key clenched in her hand. She didn't waste her breath on a casual greeting and instead pulled Ventus by the ear as her way of expressing her frustrations. "This is why I told you to go home, Ventus!"

"Ow, ow, ow!"

Lea and Isa started snickering, while Xion looked on with sympathy.

"Cut it out Aqua, I told you I wasn't going home until I found Terra!"

"You almost got yourself killed by some creep and you're still worried about finding Terra?!"

"I'll be fine Aqua! Besides, my new friends are gonna help me out!"

Aqua took a moment to scrutinize Xion, Lea, and Isa, who turned away awkwardly to avoid her gaze. She turned back to Ventus, a look of despondence soon spread across her face that he'd grown accustomed to. "Ven, I'm sorry, but school kids won't be much help, you shouldn't be getting them wrapped up into this," She again looked back to the others, "And you kids need to go back to school, it's too dangerous to be out here in the open."

"We're not just school kids!" Lea argued.

'I'm not a school kid at all.' Though slightly annoyed she had to be grouped with them, Xion acted favorably towards Aqua. "Let me explain, I'm Xion and those two are Lea and Isa, the four of us all happened to be going the same destination so I decided we should team up. The boys are fine with me, and Ven can wield the keyblade very well, but I'll make it my responsibility to take it care of them."

"You make it sound like we're kids," Isa said. "We can handle ourselves fine, Xion."

"Oh yeah, I'm sure Lea can, but you on the other hand..."

"Right, last time I checked you were still taking cover while I was risking my life," Lea said.

Isa crossed his arms, and turned the other way, annoyed, "Whatever, it looked like you guys had things handled," He huffed out.

"Excuse me for asking, but are you a keyblade wielder too?" Aqua asked, facing Xion.

"I am." She summoned her keyblade to prove to Aqua her prowess.

"So you are. Then please forgive me, I didn't know there were any other keyblades wielders outside of our own world. Thank you for taking care of Ven, I'm sure you're skilled with the keyblade."

A light blush flushed in her cheeks. "Y-You think so? I do try to practice in my spare time..."

"That's something you should start doing more of, Ven," Aqua said with sharpness in her voice. "And you can do plenty of that at home."

"Hey! I'm pretty good with the keyblade and I only got better 'cause I didn't have to be stuck at home waiting for you and Terra to come back. And you know, seeing all these worlds, and meeting new people has been really fun, I don't want to go back, not now. I still want to see what else there is out there...and I will find Terra!"

Aqua fixated on Ventus. "Ven, look, I know how much you admire Terra and want to be by his side, but you're better off leaving. There's something horrible about this world and I don't want you getting caught up in it. I'll find Terra."

"Why? Don't you trust me, Aqua? I thought we were friends!"

"We are friends!"

"Then why won't you trust me?!"

"This isn't about me trusting you, it's about me protecting you!"

"From what? You already defeated that castle guard guy, no...you...you just think Terra will hurt me, don't you?! You're scared he'll do something to me. Well, I'll prove he's good, I promised to always have his back and you're not gonna stop me!"

Ventus pushed Aqua away from him, then scaled the rooftops where he continued down towards the castle. "There he goes again," Aqua muttered under her breath. "He thinks he's so tough, a mindset like that will get you nowhere."

She faced Xion and the others. "Sorry, I must of come off as rude to the rest of you. My name is Aqua, although I'm sure you gathered that by now."

"So are you supposed to be his mom or whatever?" Isa asked.

"His what?! No, no! I'm just his friend...well I guess Ven probably does see more that way." For a moment, just for a moment, she let down her unwavering composure and allowed herself to indulge in her insecurities. "Lately, the three of us have been drifting apart, and I get the feeling that I'm the reason why."

"I wouldn't be too hard on yourself," Xion reassured. "He's just the type to run off without thinking, so we have to be the type to bring them back."

"...You're right, Ven's in for an earful when I find him again."

"Well while you guys work that out, I have to go," Isa abruptly announced.

"Where do you have to go that's more important than this?" Lea asked.

"It's not because I don't want to be here, it's just..." He was reluctant to speak any further.

"Just what?" Lea pressed on, unwilling to drop the subject.

Isa replied with a low, incomprehensible mumble.

"Huh? Didn't catch that."

"I said...my mom's forcing to go to cram school, so I have to leave now or she'll kill me."

"Oh right, forgot you were annoyingly smart. Whatever, see you tomorrow."

"Right, see ya."

"Isa..." Xion said. "Be careful out there."

"Yeah I know. Later."

After Isa departed from the group, the three of them started back down towards the castle. Since it was the crowning landmark of Radiant Garden, the castle was a massive fortress that ran on complex, intricate mechanics, shaping the infrastructure of the building. A towering door served as the entrance where two sentry guards stood by, Aqua approached them while Xion and Lea decided to stay behind.

Xion studied the sentry guards. 'It's Xaldin and Lexaeus. They don't look much different though, guess they were already old in the future.'

"How do you think Ventus got inside the castle?" Lea asked.

"He likely just snuck past them."

It only took a few short exchanges of back and forth until Aqua raised her keyblade in exasperation and simply used a stop spell on them, then waved for Xion and Lea to follow.

Lea had a wide grin on his face, pumped by a rush of excitement. "Mission to rescue Roxas initiated! Let's go team!"

"Uh...wow, that sounded really lame coming from you." Xion bluntly stated.

"What?! I was just getting us ready for the mission!"

"Let's leave the catchphrases behind for now, until you're good at making them."

Aqua, Lea and Xion stormed inside the entrance hall of the castle, they heard a skittish voice echoing down the chambers and took cover behind one of the tall columns supporting the curvature of the ceiling.

The voice belonged to Even, who was clutching a stack of papers in his arms as he rushed down the hall. Meanwhile, Ienzo followed behind, picking up the discarded papers that flew off the stack.

"Make haste Ienzo, my subject went towards the outer gardens! One more sample and I'll be on the verge of a breakthrough!"

"I have a feeling he's talking about Ven," Aqua said. "He must not be too far, let's follow them."

Their pursuit of Even and Ienzo led them down a flight of stairs into the basement of the castle. It having such a desolate, hollow, and foreboding atmosphere made perfect stomping grounds for the unversed to lurk within the endless shadows, so it wasn't long before they stood in their way to the outer gardens.

"What are these dreadful things?" Even asked, teetering on the edge of fear and intrigue. "Might they be monsters the town's been raving about? Ienzo, why don't you go study them."

"What?! Why don't you go study it, you're the scientist!"

"And a great scientist always leaves the dirty work to his assistant!"

"You mean a terrible scientist."

"—Watch out!" An icy blast cut between Even and Ienzo, then froze the unversed to the ground.

Aqua ran ahead and sliced the unversed clean in half.

"And who are you?" Even demanded, dismissive of the fact she saved his life.

"That's not important, get out of here before more show up!"

"How insolent of a stranger like you to demand something of the head scientist of Master Ansem' castle!"

Much to his surprise, Aqua humbly bowed down in apology. "...I am deeply sorry for the intrusion, I'm simply looking for a friend who passed by here. So you'll have to excuse me for trespassing, but this is no place for civilians."

"Hmph, I suppose if I die here I wouldn't be able to continue my studies. I'll return with the guards if that's the case. Come Ienzo."

Xion waited until they were gone, before turning back to Aqua, "I can't believe you said all of that, I thought you were gonna use magic on him like the other guys."

"Yeah, didn't stop you before," Lea said.

"That's exactly why I didn't. I felt irresponsible for using magic on those sentry guards and I didn't want to set a bad example for you kids so I said what he wanted to hear." 'That and I don't have enough magic to waste on them anyway.'

"Sure, whatever you say, Aqua."

"You don't have to sound so disappointed in me, I'll make it up to you after we find our friends."

The rest of the way to the outer gardens went by smoothly with Aqua leading. They soon came across a vast opening outside the castle walls where hundreds of colorful flowers lined the flat stone pathway. Enclosing the perimeter was a spectacular display of fountains and in the middle of the outer gardens was the entrance to the purification facility where Terra stood with Roxas by his side.

Aqua chose to stay behind, still not on speaking terms with Terra, while Ventus was already well on his way to see him. Xion, meanwhile, ran past Ventus to get to Roxas. When she finally approached him, she couldn't decide whether or not to slap him, whether or not to even look him in the eye, but before she got the chance to decide, Roxas pulled Xion close and embraced her.

"I'm so sorry." He dug his head into her shoulders, grasping her tightly as if she would slip away if he ever let her go. "I didn't mean to hurt you like that, I just wanted to protect you."

Xion pushed away from him. "Roxas...you're such an idiot. If I'm supposed to be your partner, then let me fight for you! If I'm supposed to be your friend, then let me be there for you!" The tears she fought so hard to push back were now streaming down her face and dropping onto the pavement. "I don't care if I get hurt, I don't care if I get sad! If we can't shoulder each other's pain, then what good are we?"

Her voice grew soft, fragile, as if she could't hold the weight of her words, "...What good am I, Roxas? Just another puppet, right?"

He opened his mouth to say something, but ultimately decided not to say anything just yet, fearing his words wouldn't be enough to encapsulate his feelings. Instead, he summoned his own keyblade and pressed it into her hands. "You're pretty amazing, Xion. Remember when I helped you get your keyblade back all those days ago? Now you're running circles around me...I guess I'm the one who needs to catch up." He smiled at her in that stupid way she always hated, but found it to be the most endearing feature about him.

"Let's just both do what we can for each other and I won't ever push you away. I promise."

Her eyes lingered on his, her mind racing around him. She wanted to say something, anything, but couldn't for some indescribable feeling.

'I must've embarrassed her 'cause her face is really red. Wonder what I said?'

"I hate to break up you're little confessions to each other, but are you going to explain why there's two of you?" Terra asked.

"There's two of us?"

Maybe it was coincidental, or even fate that the two would meet, but when Roxas saw him, he knew it wasn't a mistake. Ventus was identical to him in every way; the same round face, the same blonde windswept hair that was impossible to manage, the same deep blue eyes someone could get lost in. It was too much for Roxas to take in all at once, causing him to jump away from him and shout, "Who are you?!"

"Oh no, we're not about to go through this again." Xion pulled Roxas back towards Ventus. "Roxas, this is Ventus. Ventus, Roxas. He's not a heartless, he just happens to look and sound exactly like you."

Ventus was the first to offer his hand. "I know it's weird and I'm not entirely on board with it either, but let's go along with it for now."

Roxas took his hand and shook it. "Yeah, sure...my bad, for almost killing you and everything."

"Eh, kind of expected it. Xion told me."

"Ah.. did she tell you anything else?"

"Roxas, I'm right here!" Xion cut in.

"Never mind, we'll talk later," Roxas said.

Ventus grinned at Roxas, however, his smile wouldn't last long as his face became devoid of any expression and life. He staggered forward, on the verge of collapsing on the ground, but Roxas caught him in his arms. His eyes widened in horror, he could feel the arrow shards sticking out of his chest and Ventus' body becoming heavier and heavier with each passing breath.

"We'll talk later...right?"