AN/ Would you look at that we're only 2 chapters away from special chapter 200. Ooooohhhh.

Chapter 198: Etched Memories

"So how were today's missions?" Axel asked, chuckling a little.

"Alright," Roxas replied. He chuckled a little, too. He liked Axel's perpetually-laid-back attitude about everything. Or most things. "Easy as always."

He laughed now. Axel laughed too.

Roxas shifted a little, looking at his feet. "I met a girl," he said, under his breath.

"Oh boy," Axel laughed. He was grinning widely. "What sorta girl? She must've been real special if she stuck out to you."

"Yeah," Roxas said. He chuckled nervously. "Well I… talked to her. For a bit."

"Uhhh huuuh."

Roxas shrugged. That was really it. He met Kairi. He talked to her. Showed her some attacks—not that he'd tell Axel that. He wouldn't tell Axel about the fact that he and Kairi were planning meeting up in a week, either.

"She was… kinda familiar," he said, after a moment.

It was the one thing he'd never forget about her. Her familiarity—even though he'd just met her—had burned into him. The way he somehow remembered her smile the moment he saw it, how his ears registered her laughter like it was something he'd heard a thousand times before. There was something about Kairi in her entirety that had been engraved into his mind long before he met her and so spending time with her was… familiar. Comfortable. He couldn't describe it.

He couldn't describe how her voice tugged at him, how the warmth of her body had pulled him, how watching her fight has sparked something inside of him. Something that he could only partially remember. Something that beat in his chest so clearly when he was next to Kairi.

"Really?" Axel asked. He seemed intrigued.

"Yeah." Roxas slowly nodded. "Something about… her voice. Her face. Everything. Everything about her was so familiar and—"

"That would be Kairi," 26 interrupted. Roxas looked up, a little confused. He didn't remember 26 being anywhere near them. Or even in the room. "She knows Sora," 26 continued. "That is why she is familiar to you. Sora's memories are calling out from within you. That is all."

Roxas laughed in disbelief. "Well I knew she knew Sora!"

They'd talked about him for a little bit! Of course he knew that she knew Sora. That she and Sora had been best friends since they could walk. That…

Oh…

"You think that's it?" Roxas asked, quietly. "That's... why she was familiar?"

The excitement was fading from him. The thought that Kairi reminded him of something else—something different. Something more… exotic than merely Sora's memories that were still etched in the back of him.

But considering the fact he could list various details about Sora and Kairi's childhoods together, he was beginning to think that that wasn't the case. It really was just Sora's memories. Nothing exotic at all.

"I don't see any other logical explanation," 26 said.

Roxas nodded. There really couldn't be another one, could there? Who'd have a mystery girl in the back of their mind? And even if someone did—even if he did—the fact that said mystery girl was nearly exactly like Kairi… well… it probably was just Kairi.

"Also, Roxas, I believe you have a couple of mission reports that are still due," 26 said.

Roxas looked up, glaring. "Are you kidding?" he asked. "I was just fighting Heartless! Why do I need to write reports on—" He stopped. Groaned. He wasn't going to get out of it. "Fine."

Maybe writing the reports would give him some more time to digest this whole thing about Kairi…

xxx

Axel waited until Roxas was gone, and then grabbed 26 by the cloak and slammed him into the nearest wall.

"I am getting really sick of this!" he spat. "It's like I can't have a conversation with him without you showing up and interrupting me."

"I'm not entirely pleased with being forced to follow you around, either," 26 replied. Somehow he was still calm. Unafraid enough to smirk a little. "But we wouldn't want you to let something slip, would we?"

"What. Would. It. Do?" Axel hissed, bringing his face just inches from 26's.

"Do you want Roxas to break?" 26 didn't even break eye contact. "If he remembers Xion…" He shook his head. "I cannot even begin to describe what could go wrong."

"You're bluffing."

26 narrowed his eyes, lips forming into a thin line. He was silent for a moment, then:

"I know what happened in Castle Oblivion."

Axel's eyes went wide. His grip on 26's cloak loosened.

"Threaten me or push me around like this again, and I will not hesitate to tell Lord Xemnas," 26 continued. "So I suggest you leave me alone."

Axel let go.

26 brushed himself off, keeping his chin up, gathering his pride about him. "And I don't know for certain," he said. "But I'm fairly positive you should be out looking for Vexen. You may have placated Lord Xemnas for now, but sooner or later he's going to want results. If you want your 'failed' trip to Castle Oblivion to remain believable, you need to keep looking."

Axel let out a long breath, fists clenched, body shaking. "Understood," he ground out through clenched teeth.

It infuriated him to have this Vexen Replica, of all people, push him around like this. But he couldn't risk Xemnas finding out about Castle Oblivion. Or worse, finding out that he hadn't told.

"And when you see Vexen, please inform him that I am more than flattered by the fact he thinks I'm a genius," 26 said. And then he walked off.

xxx

"You know that feeling I get before I have a meltdown?" Namine asked, looking up from her drawing.

Riku looked up from the book Aerith had lent him. "You get those?" he asked, squinting his eyes at her.

"I'm getting one now," Namine replied.

"Okay. Uhm." Riku fumbled for his bookmark, closed his book. Except he hadn't put the bookmark in the book. He cursed under his breath and opened the book to roughly the same spot and shoved the bookmark between the pages. "Okay." He looked at Namine, expectantly, not sure what to say.

They'd only returned to Castle Oblivion a few hours ago, so this was a little sudden. Well, every meltdown was sudden. Well—

"Actually, that's weird," Riku said, scrunching up his face. "That you can feel it coming."

"No it's not," Namine replied, moving her sketchbook aside. She tapped her head. "I can feel it in here. A dull pounding. Give it five minutes and it'll be worse." She got to her feet. "We should head to the Main Room."

"Ehh? Why?" Riku asked, squinting harder at her. She was coherent right now, wasn't she? There were sometimes, during a meltdown, that she wasn't. But she looked coherent, and she sounded coherent.

"So Alpha can watch me throw it off and not say I'm a liar?" Namine suggested, shrugging, though she was glaring very furiously. "Like he basically did when he told him after the first time we threw one off."

"To be fair, we were really dodgy about it," Riku said. He coughed, awkwardly.

They'd been understandably dodgy, having not wanted to tell Alpha—or anyone—about the fact they'd kissed. That was something they'd agreed to keep as private as they possibly could.

Namine sighed. "Well, yeah, but he'll still be awful about it and you know it."

"You sure you want to be sitting in the Main Room, though?" Riku asked, suppressing a groan. "I mean, how, uh, private do you think this is going to be?"

"You want to tell Alpha to come sit in here?" Namine folded her arms across her chest. "Because he's not going to believe us unless he sees it with his own eyes."

"Ah…"

"Besides, then we'll get performance anxiety," she joked, a smile flashing briefly across her lips.

He chuckled and shook his head.

"Are you sure, though?" He looked up at her again, shifting so he was on the edge of the bed. "I mean… this seems a little ridiculous."

"I just want Alpha off our backs."

"Yeah, but… what if it doesn't work?"

"Well, then, it'll go like it always does. Like every other meltdown has." Namine shrugged. "I mean, the worst that can happen is you have to kiss me in public."

"Oh, I'd rather not," he groaned, rubbing his head at the thought. "Not that I- I just. If Joseph finds out."

Namine laughed. "He's not gonna be that awful about it!"

"You say about the boy who considered shoving me through a dark corridor so I'd talk to you. And the boy who purposefully sat so close to us that you'd have to move and sit on my lap."

"Okay, fine!" Namine rolled her eyes. "If it gets to that point, we can just poof to your room! Or, y'know, my room. One of our rooms."

Riku let out a long sigh. "You really want to go to the Main Room?"

"Would you rather we tell Alpha he can watch the security footage for proof?"

"Well-" Riku began. Paused. Grimaced. "I destroyed the cameras…"

Namine thrust her hands out, gesturing to the air beside her like there. There is the point I was making. "Exactly!" she said.

"Okay fine."