It was one of those rare moments when Lea was in an overall positive mood. The warm, welcoming, relaxed color scheme of orange, red, and violet was the ideal aesthetic shift from the white, black and gray rigid palette he was used to living in.

Axel's life. Not Lea's. Axel had connections to this place, but Lea wasn't going to go there today. T'was a pretty nice day, after all, there was no need to rain all over it.

He took the alleyway to avoid the kids on skateboards who liked the sloped one-way streets. Too many times had he almost barricaded himself with fire with his all too easily triggered defenses. Barbecuing children was a surefire way to turn the citizens of Twilight Town against him, simulated or not.

He exited into the center of Tram Common. The market was abuzz in preparation for the latest struggle tournament. This was the ideal time to go shopping, something that could always keep Lea in high spirits.

He approached a favorite confectionary shop, its displays featuring a marvelous mouth-watering assortment of cakes, cookies, and fruit tarts that also sold basic potions and ethers for cheap during Struggle season. A friendly and inviting window dressing offset by the shop owner. It used to be a frequent stop for Axel, with their small ice cream freezer in the far left corner containing his absolute favorite.

More memories from Axel. Never could hold onto a good mood. Only adding to that was the shop's current customer.

"Isn't it two for 60? I got this flyer-"

"The promotion ends at noon. Read the fine print." The shopkeeper's tone offered no apologies. Sure enough, the flyer the princess was holding did have writing on the bottom, but it was far too tiny for a glance and looked more like a printing error than anything else.

Axel might have bought up the entire stock, nonchalant look on his face, while ignoring her the entire time, perhaps even handing them out to the struggle victors for personal popularity, just to see if he got any amusement out of it.

"Oh! I guess I missed that. Sorry." She gave a little smile. The woman may as well have been made of stone. Kairi cleared her throat "I'll just take one potion then."

"40 munny."

Or Axel would've left before finding himself in an awkward situation, should he have felt like being nice.

"Make that two potions, please. And two sea salt." Lea interjected. Mimi mindlessly jabbed at the numbers on the register.

"112."

"What? 16 gold for ice cream? I thought we were friends Mimi!" The woman gave him a nonplused look.

"It's.. it's struggle season and we're low on stock and do I know you?" Lea should've figured that the replica town would have a clean-slated memory, distancing himself from any of Axel's time there. For good reason, no doubt, never know what someone might've seen.

"Axel… You don't have to…"

"It's nothing," Lea responded without a glance. "You drive a hard bargain, Mimi," Lea shook his head and pulled the munny from his coat pocket, counting the coins. "You must know by now that I'm hopelessly in love with you and I feel like you take advantage of that." He slapped the munny on the counter and took the ice cream from the utterly bewildered woman. Kairi grabbed the two potions and scurried off to the side.

"Until we meet again," Lea said holding Mimi's gaze one more elongated dramatic beat. He would have clutched his chest had his hands not been full.

"So did she end up remembering you?" Kairi asked when Lea caught up to her.

"Hm? Oh, of course not, I was just having a little fun." Kairi laughed in spite of herself.

"Well, don't you think it's going to be awkward when you have to go back there for something?"

"Hm... I suppose I'm not too concerned about that stuff. I mean, none of this is real, right?"

"I suppose...Still, we may be staying a while. I have to, anyway." She did her best not to sound melancholy, but it escaped her regardless. It wasn't uncommon, and perhaps he should've made a greater effort to connect with her when they had first found themselves stranded together. Then again, he wasn't sure why he should be concerned. He'd grow on her, or not, it didn't matter.

"Here," Kairi said, handing him one of the potions.

"What? No, those are yours. I'm all set." She furrowed her brow then examined the vile in her outstretched hand.

"You should save your munny. I really don't want to-"

"Seriously, will you just take it? It's fine. As I said, I'm set." Kairi pulled the potion back, taking another hard look at the label.

"How?" That was a good question. As it would turn out, fake monsters conjured by a deluded 800-year-old wizard only left a four-bit coin at most when destroyed. Too often they didn't yield anything at all.

"I have my ways," Lea said with a bit of mischief. The princess gave him a wary look.

"They aren't nefarious!"

"Never said they were!"

"Okay... good. Well, here ya go." He said handing her the sea salt treat. The ice cream had already begun to melt in the scorching summer day, leaving the handle sticky.

"What's this?" She asked, cautiously pinching the handle and holding it away from her.

"That's called ice cream," Lea said, using the voice he saved for amnesiacs and toddlers, charmed by the eye-roll he got in response. "Got it memorized?"

"I know that, but why are you giving this to me?"

"What, did you think I bought these both for myself?"

"Well, no, but," She decided with a polite smile. "Thank you." Lea nodded in response. They stood there silently for a moment nodding at each other.

"Okay. Later." Lea said, turning on his heels and starting off in the opposite direction.

"Where are you going?" Kairi called.

Axel threw his hand up behind him and continued onward. He listened a few moments, thinking she would run off until he heard the sound of footsteps shuffling to keep up.

"Are you afraid I'm going to push you off or something?"

"No..."

"What then? Do perhaps heights give the princess frights?"

"No," she said, "but, that is a far drop down."

"Suit yourself. Nobody has fallen as far as I know. Those friends of yours, Hayden? Prince? They're up here all the time." Not that the simulated trio knew who she was.

"I think Sora's nobody, Roxas fell." Lea turned back to the sunset, saying nothing but listening intently. "I dreamed it... as though it was me. But I was him. I was also talking to him. Then I was talking to Sora, only I didn't remember Sora, and I didn't know what a nobody was much less who in the worlds Roxas was. It's silly, really. Yet, I don't know, I didn't even remember it until I was up here. All this time I've been staring at this clock tower, wondering why it... sparked something. I had assumed that maybe it was somewhere Sora had gone while I was... Axel, did you know Naminé very well?"

Unfortunately, this turned out to be a terrible idea. He could attempt to casually pry for more information on Roxas, but if she could trigger Namine's memory, he figured it might be better if he cut his losses while he was ahead in this conversation.

"I knew her, kind of. Roxas though, he..."

"Oh right! I forgot. He was part of the organization wasn't he?"

"You forgot?" Lea turned to her. "What the hell did you and baby boy talk about when you got home?" Kairi scoffed.

"We talked about his adventures to different worlds and what had been going on around the island while he was away and- it's not important. So you… you knew Roxas and Naminé?"

A different time. A different man.

"Yeah. Roxas was my best friend, actually."

"Really? How did that happen?"

"Why is that surprising?"

"Well, Roxas was Sora's nobody..."

"Yes?"

"I don't know, I guess I assumed you didn't like Sora."

"Why do you say that? I stuck my neck out for Sora, went up against the big guns, twice."

"I know that." Otherwise, surely she would never sit here with him. "That was the right thing to do. I'm not questioning your morality. Well, not right now anyway." Lea smirked. "I've just noticed that you tend to scoff whenever the Master mentions him, and you're always referring to him as 'baby boy' or 'special boy,' and the way you call him 'the hero.'"

"I thought he was 'the hero.'"

"Not by the way you say it. You make it sound as if he shouldn't be."

He didn't owe any justification, but something about the nostalgic taste, the setting sun, and the sincere blue eyes made him feel like talking. He cursed Axel in his head for giving him the notion to come back to this accursed tower.

"I have nothing against Sora." He said to the sun, "He's a good kid, I guess. He's just lucky." Lea took his last bite of ice cream and gave a deep sigh. "Roxas and I used to come up here." Kairi appeared next to him, carefully lowering herself onto the ledge."I see Sora... and I realize now that Roxas had all the heart Sora has. It's just... unfair."

Kairi stared down at her bare popsicle stick, eyes flickering in thought.

"And Naminé? Do you think she had all the heart that I have?" Lea knew at some point he would have to face all aspects of his past, though he had not been counting on facing it first with Naminé's damn somebody, not that he had the most trusting relationship with Kairi the first place.

"I didn't spend too much time with her," he lied, "but yeah, I believe so." And she likely despised him more than Kairi was even capable of.

"I only ask because I didn't know nobodies could grow their own hearts. I found out recently from Master Yen Sid. If I had known... anything really..." Kairi's voice caught in her throat and she took a short breath. "She told me she had to go. That we had to rejoin to be whole. I didn't even think to argue with her since she knew so much more than I did..." Anxiety and something like regret brimmed from her as she observed the fragile, peaceful civilization below. "I wish I..."

Prior to joining Kairi and Merlin, Lea hadn't spent much time thinking about Naminé. He likely had assumed she was safe in a white room drawing somewhere. Kairi had been fully intact; breathing, fighting back, remembering- why did Naminé need to go back to her?

"Do you talk to her?" Lea asked, bracing himself.

"Not really, though she talks to me sometimes, I think. I talk back, but I don't know if she hears me. It might just be my imagination, I don't know, but I have a strong feeling it's her. It sounds like her. It even smells like her."

"Smells?" Intriguing. Did Axel have a different smell than Lea?

"Yea! That happens when I'm dreaming, or when I'm half asleep. It's a smell that's so distinctly- her."

"What does she say?"

"I don't know. I never seem to remember when I wake up."

Lea felt relieved, then as a consequence, horrendously guilty. Even imprisoned and well out of reach of the Organization, the ghost of their former eighth member was still trying to stifle her. They hadn't departed on particularly bad terms, but he could hardly call her a "friend." Ironically, it was Naminé's departing words that had inspired the whole kidnapping plot in the first place.

"Kairi," intense blue orbs became alert again as Kairi resurfaced. "I am so, so very sorry. I know I've said it a million times, but I don't know if I've properly communicated-"

"I know, Lea." Kairi smiled prettily. That poor Sora.

"And, next time you talk to Naminé, tell her I'm sorry." It was long overdue

"For what?" Lea sighed, stood, turned, and tossed the popsicle stick over his shoulder.

"Another time, perhaps."