"What are you doing now?" Kairi asked, not for the first time.

"Making sure we can't be traced by Xehanort or anyone else," answered Axel, an edge in his tone. He typed hastily, the numerous monitors around the room displaying a language that Kairi didn't comprehend, filled with numbers and foreign symbols. Kairi had goosebumps from the draft and stood off to the side holding her forearms, complaining only a reasonable amount.

"Is that going to take long?"

"Got somewhere else to be?" He swiveled in his chair and faced her. "This is kind of important. Being tracked by the Organization sort of defeats the purpose of all this." He waved his hand around in the air. "You realize that, right?"

"It's just a little claustrophobic in here, isn't it?" Axel shrugged emphatically and returned to work.

She didn't normally have a problem with tight spaces, yet Kairi couldn't get out of the basement soon enough. Something about the place was unsettling; its cold, clinical, unforgiving atmosphere in complete discord with the warmth of the charming, vintage city.

"Done," he said, standing and crossing the room. "Come on. Hurry." They stepped under the beam, standing side by side. Kairi held her breath, always apprehensive during this part, and grabbed Axel's hand for reassurance as the laser transported them instantaneously.

The real world's basement looked more or less the same as their data world's, save for the lack of Merlin's tidy upkeep. Axel jumped out first, scanning the room, Kairi stepped out gingerly after him.

"Okay, you stay here," he said, "I'm going to make sure the town is clear of any threats."

"What? That could take half the day! I don't want to be stuck down here alone."

"I gotta be sure it's safe. Look, it's tough, but we can't risk anything happening to you. Merlin would kill me, or, the Organization will kill everyone... either way, keeping you around is at least better than death, I think."

"I get it, Axel," she snapped. "But, say, if someone does come for me; how am I supposed to get away if I'm cornered in the basement?" Kairi challenged.

"Okay, okay, fine. Don't leave the basement unless you absolutely have to, and definitely, don't leave the mansion! I'll be back as soon as soon as I can."

About three and a half minutes after Axel had left, Kairi decided she absolutely had to leave the basement. She ambled through the automatic sliding door and climbed the stairs into the dusty library. Cobwebs crowded the corners of the ceiling, and a significant number of tomes were absent from the shelves, leaving many collections incomplete.

"There's a certain promise I made you."

Something pulled at her chest as she exited the library and descended the East staircase. Her feet were itching to carry her out the front door, far away from this prison. Pedestals and fragmented sculptures dotted the foyer, the only ones intact being the unicorn sculptures that paralleled the ones in the data town.

"It's a little late for the witch to grow a conscious."

Teleportation gave her migraines, she suspected as she examined the gray, unkept statuettes for any inconspicuous discrepancies.

"Isn't that right, Namine?"

Kairi whirled around. That one she heard, without a doubt.

"Who goes there?" She said aloud, producing less sound than she had attempted. The ache in her head was now a dull throb. Trembling, she glanced through the green film that clouded the glass courtyard doors, but she was all alone.

"I've been alone for so long."

"Namine?" Kairi turned toward the front door, taking tiny steps into the center of the foyer. Ghosts haunted this mansion, Pence had been right, but not in the way he had imagined.

"Lies, lies, all lies."

No, not Namine, that one was… who was that?

"I promised-I promised to protect you! You have to believe me!"

"Sora," she said, assured. The voices beckoned her from the top left corner of the hallway, where her room normally was. She was escorted upstairs, entranced and bewildered by the phenomenon.

"Even if you come for me, what then?"

Kairi shuddered, halting at the door. The fear was suffocating. There may be no going out once she was in, as irrational as that thought seemed. She already lacked an exit strategy, her body was only capable of moving forward. Finding a hint of courage, she twisted the door handle slowly and stepped inside.

Ease came fast. She was home now… somehow… alone again and safe in her room.

"You and Kairi smell the same."

But it wasn't her room. It looked little like the space Merlin had arranged for her, save for the pristine white walls and broad window. Instead of a bed, the centerpiece was a glossy, white long table with two white chairs placed on the far ends. On top of the table was a white vase holding white flowers, a sketchbook, and a tin of crayons.

"Nothing else really matters anymore."

Drawn images, some unfamiliar and some lifted from her own memory, sprinkled the walls and littered the otherwise immaculate floor. She studied a single abandoned image on the table. It was a drawing of her two years ago, and Sora, and Riku, and-

"I won't hurt Sora! I won't do it!"

"You were never supposed to exist, Roxas."

The ache she had been managing evolved into an unbearable agony, seizing her joints as Kairi cried out. She fell to her knees and squeezed her eyes shut as heavy tears rolled down her cheeks. Voices continued to echo off the walls, relentless, unconcerned with her anguish.

"Don't cry, please."

"How can you even say such a thing…?"

"Kairi?" A voice she knew was calling her name. No, not her name but her name- her real name. He was talking to her. He who knew who she was. She was not supposed to be here. This was not her place.

"Is that your shield? Won't do you any good, I'm afraid."

"Make me like I was."

Forsaken, enslaved, the dared hopes, the moments of pure despair; Kairi could feel all of it. She keeled over, her hair balled in her fists, sobbing madly.

"You won't disappear! You'll be whole!"

"Kairi?" Footsteps from the hall reverberated off the cold marble floor. Choking, she tried to scream, tried to make any sound at all, tried to stop the waves from crashing over her. He was near, she could feel him. She was drowning, but he would find her. He would always come for her.

But the world was slipping away now. Her eyes would not open. Her muscles refused to respond to her command. Her lungs filled with salt water. There was no time, never any time.

"Kairi!"

She was falling…

…falling backward…

…deep beneath the sea.

"Till then, I'll be in your heart."