Demyx was tired of world hopping. He understood there was a war that was going to happen, but he missed having somewhere he could call home. Sure the Organization sucked most of the time, but at least he had had his own room he could go to after every mission. Larxene seemed just as tired of the situation as he was.

"Can we please have somewhere else to sleep tonight? I am not camping out in a jungle again."

Marluxia chuckled, "It's not our fault you're the only human in Neverland."

Larxene flailed her arms in indignant offense, "There are WAY too many worlds with jungles. There's that one world that is nothing but jungle!"

Demyx sighed, "Yeah, Mar. I'm tired of it too. I never thought I'd miss my room at the castle. I wish it wasn't gone."

Marluxia was quiet for a moment, "There is still a base we could use."

Larxene perked up, "Wait, are you saying we could have gone there at any point this whole time?"

"What are you guys talking about?" Demyx tilted his head confused.

"I don't think you ever went to Castle Oblivion. It was actually pretty nice…" Marluxia trailed off.

Demyx frowned. He wasn't fond of going to the place that they died. He didn't want to go back to where his final confrontation with Sora was, so he didn't want Marluxia or Larxene to have to either.

"I'm sold," stated Larxene. "I bet my room wasn't touched since then."

Marluxia's nose wrinkled, "Your sheets will be so gross."

Demyx could have sworn he saw Larxene's antenna sink at the notion of doing laundry. "So…. are we going?" he asked.

"It seems like it," Marluxia said as he held up a hand.

The three shrugged on their coats and walked through the portal to Castle Oblivion.


Axel was dumbfounded. Roxas was in the chair asleep like when they had been in the Organization. Had he been here the whole time? Would he wake up like he had before or was this something different?

The trio of Sora, Riku, and Kairi noticed how Axel was frozen in place. Riku was the first to follow him through the doorway and he also froze as he saw the boy.

"What is it?" Sora asked as he quickly caught up.

"It's…. Roxas," Axel breathed. He started walking to the chair.

"He can't be Roxas," Riku stated, confused, "He went back to Sora."

Axel stood in front of the boy. He briefly noticed Roxas's clothes were different than before, but the fact Roxas was back and safe eclipsed any other thoughts.

Kairi approached the boy, "No… that isn't Roxas… how would he have gotten in here? This place has been sealed shut for years."

The boy's face twitched, eyebrows scrunching briefly as he shifted. He mumbled something before his eyes briefly opened and shut again.

"Did opening this place wake him up?" Sora wondered.

Kairi put a hand on the boy's shoulder, "Hey… wake up sleepy head." She didn't want to jar the poor kid out of sleep but at the same time she was pretty curious of how he had gotten in there.

She pulled back as the boy's legs stretched out, followed by an arm, and then his whole body twisted to stretch, "Why did you guys let me fall asleep here? This chair is as hard as a rock." His eyes opened as he finished stretching out. "You guys aren't Aqua and Terra…."

Axel stared in disbelief, "Roxas…?"

The boy looked to Axel and put a hand to his chin, eyes narrowing, "You're…." his eyebrows shot up and his eyes widened, "Lea? Is that you? How… What…. You're taller?"

Taken aback, Axel stared in shock.

Riku looked between the two, "Wait, is that Roxas?"

The boy stood up, "Who's Roxas?" He waved his hands in front of him, "Wait before we go into people who aren't here, who're you guys? My name is-"

"Ventus…" Axel stated, still seeming like he was struggling to process what was happening.

Ventus looked back at him, "So you are Lea. Why do you look older?"

Sora shifted on his feet and opened his mouth but didn't the chance to say anything as Kairi spoke up. "Ventus… "

He grinned, "Call me Ven!"

"Ven…" she corrected, "I don't know how to say this but… you've been asleep in here for a while…"

Riku spoke up, "It's been around ten years…"

Ven froze, "But… Aqua, Terra… where are they?"

Kairi's face saddened, "We aren't sure… we only found you through luck."

"What do you mean found?" Ven asked. His panic was growing. He thought he was dreaming but at the memories were becoming clearer he knew they had fought Xehanort but he didn't know what had happened after.

"Aqua… she's trapped…" Riku said.

"Where? How do we get her back?" Ven asked. It seemed like he was on the brink of tears. The knowledge of the time gap, not knowing the fate of his friends during his sleep, it was so much.

"We're working on it," Kairi said, putting her hand on his arm. "We've been looking for all three of you. You're the first we found but that means we can find your friends too."

Ven stared at the three strangers in front of him before looking at Axel. He was older, but he was the only person he knew in this strange place. Axel took a moment to register that Ven was hugging him before hugging back.


The castle hadn't changed by what Larxene and Marluxia could tell. They had opened a portal in the main entrance and didn't seen any signs of people coming through.

"Man this place is really… white…" Demyx said, "Really opens up the place."

Larxene rolled her eyes, "You should see the basement. Pretty sure it was just as obnoxious but the science duo didn't seem to know that lights exist.

Demyx started walking up the stairs to the door, "So I take it the whole place is like this?"

Marluxia followed, "By what we could tell. There was an area that was sealed off with the Masters' symbol but I would assume it was just as white."

Pushing past the door, Demyx wandered around. He had been curious about the place his friends had been assigned to for so long. It was pretty nice. Despite his teasing, it reminded him of the castle which provided a small comfort.

Marluxia tapped his shoulder and gestured down the hall he had been about to pass. "That's where the sealed off section was," he said, "Didn't know if you wanted to see it or not."

Demyx nodded and walked down the hall. He felt calm here. Some sense of normalcy seemed to be providing comfort. Larxene had waltzed off probably to her old room to begin the inevitable cleaning, and the duo hadn't noticed they hadn't taken off their cloaks yet. They needed a moment where it seemed like nothing had changed. Maybe even like if Demyx had been assigned with them.

Marluxia put his hand on Demyx's shoulder as he saw the door was open.

"Wh-" he was shushed by Marluxia as he silently guestured for Demyx to silently follow.

Quietly, they both walked to the door. Marluxia was very confused as that door had been unmovable for so long. He didn't know what had been behind it or how long it was open.

Ven moved back and forcefully rubbed the tears off his face, "So who are you three then?" he asked.

Riku gestured to Kairi, "That's Kairi and I'm Riku."

Sora grinned, "I'm Sora!"

Ventus looked from one face to the next and paused as his eyes passed the doorway. There was a figure peeking into the room. "And who're they?" he questioned.

Axel spun around and out of instinct at seeing a black coat, threw a flaming chakram.

"MARLY, DUCK," a column of water met the chakram an instant before it could hit it's target.

"It's the Organization," Sora stated, summoning his keyblade. His eyes narrowed in determination as the doorway was flung open by the attack revealing Marluxia on the ground some feet behind Demyx, sitar in his arms.