I never thought I'd ever have to say this, but a great big thanks to the creators of...Spongebob.

By the time Nori came out of his room, Roxas had left already. Dusty and Becca were trying to cheer Warren up. Becca was tickling his sides, and he smiled a little at her trying so hard to make him laugh. She didn't think it was working, but in reality, he had to force himself to not laugh. Of course, he would be laughing because she actually thought he was ticklish, but if he laughed, then she would really think he was ticklish. Then, she would never stop.

Dusty also got involved, sitting on Warren's lap and taunting him. Warren ignored it all, simply whispering, "You're ticklish too, aren't you?"

She argued, "I am not," but halfway through the 'not,' talking turned into screaming. She jumped off his lap insisting, "I am not ticklish."

"Then why did that work so well?" He asked, smiling widely.

"My dad's the only person that can tickle me," Dusty began to explain.

"Mm-hmm," Warren agreed sarcastically.

"It's true! But you tickle just like my dad."

"Right."

"Really, you grab people's ribs and squeeze so much it hurts. That's why I moved."

"Sure, okay."

Becca pointed at Dusty, laughing silently and lipping, "Ha-ha, he tickled you."

Dusty rolled her eyes, putting one hand on her hip, but it was Warren that got Becca back for her. He reached over and squeezed just above her knee. She giggled, and squirmed, and ran to stand over by Dusty. Nori casually hopped up onto the television where Sora had been sitting before to enjoy the argument. Apparently, that was a popular place to sit. He didn't get to stay there for long. A moment later, Chiyo was beckoning again. She took hold of his hands, leaned against his legs, and kissed him gently.

"You changed clothes," she noted softly. "That's not fair. I've been wearing the same clothes for a whole year."

"No wonder you smell a little funny," Nori joked.

Chiyo, offended, shoved him backwards, and he fell off the television, landing behind it in a mess of wires. Warren instantly left the tickle-fest, running to the television to order, "Don't hurt the gaming system."

"Fine," Nori agreed as he stood back up and untangled himself from the cords, "I'll take you to Kairi's and see if we can get you a change of clothes."

"Kairi?" She repeated, seeming slightly jealous that Nori even knew another female.

"Yes," Nori agreed, grabbing her hand and walking toward the door. "Sora's girlfriend is close to your size."

The pirate gang still hadn't gotten off the Mysterious Island. Luffy decided to call the ship with Tiara's phone and just have the ship come pick them up. The ship hadn't shown up, though, and Marluxia had come back.

Luffy announced his presence, exclaiming, "Hey look! The girly-man's back!"

Everyone immediately stood up from their various seats on the beach.

Marluxia wasn't nearly as frustrated by what Luffy had said as he had been the last time, simply commenting, "Oh, were you waiting for me? I had some things to care for…sorry to make you wait, but since you were looking forward to it, now it is your turn to die." He formed his gigantic scythe in his hand and stood in preparation for the fight.

Everyone except for Wesley got horrified looks on their faces. Wesley just laughed. Eventually, he calmed down enough to explain, "You think you can kill us? All of us? Ha. Now Mister Six Sticks, him I have a deep, dreaded respect for, but you…" Wesley had walked over to behind Marluxia and sniffed at his shoulder. "Are those flowers I smell?" He asked, skipping away to some place Marluxia couldn't reach him with the scythe. "Hey guys, the girly-guy left us here to go prancing around in his rose garden. He had to water the snapdragons; they were looking a little sickly."

Marluxia scowled and headed toward Wesley angrily saying, "I'll kill you first." Wesley allowed the slightest look of fear to cross his face when he realized he didn't have his sword anymore, but he just smiled again and kept up with the mocking.

"What's that kid trying to do?" Zoro asked quietly.

"Dunno," Luffy replied, clapping his feet together happily, "but it's funny."

Zoro and Nami both slapped him on either side of his head and stood up to help Wesley. Wesley was doing pretty good at dodging all the swipes Marluxia was making at him. He got one slice across the arm and winced, but it really only made him fight harder. When he saw Nami and Zoro coming to help him out, he held a hand out to stop them.

They stopped, Zoro asking again, "What's he doing?"

On the next swipe, Wesley was able to grab the handle of the scythe, getting another slice in his arm from the angle he grabbed it at, but surprising Marluxia enough that Wesley could rip it from his hands.

"What now?" Wesley demanded with an attitude as he broke the cumbersome thing in two. Then, confident because he had two weapons—a stick and half a scythe—and Marluxia had none, he positioned himself as if he might attack Marluxia.

Marluxia smirked a bit, noting, "I must admit I didn't expect that much from you, but don't act like it's over already." A second later, the two halves of the scythe in Wesley's hands disappeared, and it reappeared in Marluxia's hand, once again whole.

Looking so shocked that he wanted to cry, Wesley ran past Marluxia stating, "I hate you and your stupid black magic. I can't fight magic; all I have is a sword, and right now, I don't even have one of those. How am I supposed to fight you like that?"

"You're not," Marluxia responded, chasing after him, "you're just supposed to die."

Wesley led Marluxia right past Nami and Zoro. Nami prepared to protect herself from any of his attacks that might come her way, but Zoro put a hand against her chest to stop her. He walked by without hurting either of them, entirely focused on destroying Wesley.

After watching the fight between Wesley and Marluxia recommence, Zoro said, "I think I know what he's doing. Just wait another minute."

Wesley got slashed across the face and fell to the ground. He thought for a second, Damn that thing hurts, before trying to climb back to his feet. However, he only made it to his knees before Marluxia pounded him on the back of the head with his fist. Taking a foot in his gut collapsed him to the ground again. Marluxia's back was to the crew, though, and to Wesley, that was all that mattered. Zoro signaled silently to Nami, meaning, now it's time. The two of them quietly crept up behind Marluxia. When Wesley didn't get up that time, Marluxia began to turn around. Seeing this, and his two friends coming toward them, Wesley forced himself up again.

"Hey wait," Wesley called just before Marluxia would have noticed Nami and Zoro. Marluxia immediately turned back to Wesley to finish him off. Wesley flinched in expectation of the last blow. He wanted to cry but knew he couldn't. It was almost over…almost over. One last punch in the face knocked him to the ground.

Then a voice came from a foot behind Marluxia. "Yoo-hoo! La-la-la-la-la-la-la," is kind of what the random noises sounded like.

When Marluxia turned to unload on Zoro, though, Nami disappeared to the new behind him. Before he could even hit Zoro, Nami slammed him on the back of the head with her staff that she kept hidden in three pieces in her bosom. Marluxia fell to the ground, unconscious.

"What was with the funny face and the strange noises?" Nami asked Zoro immediately.

"I don't know, I guess I had a Luffy moment. We've spent way too much time with him," Zoro replied walking over to where Wesley was laying. Picking Wesley up off the ground under his arms, Zoro questioned, "Is that what you meant by distracting is what you're best at?"

Wesley didn't answer; he just lay there, so Zoro continued, "If you ever decide to do that again, never go into it weaponless."

"Thanks for letting her borrow some of your clothes Kairi," Nori mentioned while the two of them waited for Chiyo to finish changing.

"She seems like a nice girl," Kairi replied.

Nori smiled.

Understanding the meaning of that face, Naminé popped out and wondered, "You like her, don't you?"

"Yeah," Nori sighed, but then he realized what tone had been in Naminé's voice. "Is that jealousy Naminé? God, it's Chiyo! You've always known I like Chiyo."

"Yeah, but she's always been dead before. Now that she's around…" She scooted a little closer to Nori.

"Now that she's around?" Nori interrupted questioningly, "Now I'm even more hers, not a cause for dispute."

Naminé came even closer. "But don't you like me too?"

Nori backed away cautiously. "Yes…I mean no," he tripped over something as he continued, "I mean…Roxas."

"What about Roxas?" Naminé questioned, stopping at the sound of his name.

"I mean, don't you like him…more than me?...And you waited a whole, like what, ten minutes after he was gone before you started trying to find a replacement. Let's not start this yet. Y'know there's still a chance he'll be coming back."

"Gone? What do you mean gone? Where did he go, and why wouldn't he be coming back?" Naminé was suddenly worried.

"Everyone decided he should go to the Castle That Never Was," Nori explained cautiously, slightly concerned by her reaction.

"What?" She demanded furiously, "Alone?"

"No," Nori assured. "Sora went with him."

"Sora? Stupid…all of you are stupid. Sora can't go there."

"But he couldn't go alone."

"I should have gone with him," Naminé insisted. "If he even had to go at all, it should have been me with him because I've been there. You do know that if they find out Sora is there with him they'll both be dead."

"Okay Kairi, I'm finished," Chiyo stated, coming out of the room as she finished towel drying her hair. She stopped short when she saw a blonde girl she didn't recognize—Naminé—straddling Nori, holding his shoulders. That was an awkward way to get caught, Nori thought for a second.

Naminé climbed off of Nori, slowly fading back into Kairi, when she noticed the look of horror on Chiyo's face. "Sorry," she mumbled as Chiyo stormed over to Nori and ripped him to his feet.

"Me and MY boyfriend are going to OUR home," Chiyo said so loud she was almost shouting.

"What is with all this jealous, overprotective, crap?" Nori demanded, pushing her hand off of his wrist. "You don't even know what just happened."

"It's obvious, isn't it?" She commented softly, tugging on Nori's shirt.

"No, it's not obvious." Nori pushed her hand off again. "She was concerned about—you know what, I don't even have to explain myself to you. You should trust me."

"Come on, let's go. I don't want to argue here." Chiyo was still speaking very quietly.

"Why don't you trust me? What did I ever do?"

"Nothing Nori," she whispered, seeming a little confused, and she tried to grab his hand again.

"But you won't let me go anywhere—you won't let me do anything—without your ever protective eye keeping me within your ever so restrictive reach. Would you just stop touching me? For once, I'd like a moment without Chiyo! Just me, by myself, to do something for me."

Chiyo immediately dropped his hand, on the verge of tears. "But…but it's been so long Nori."

"Maybe it's been too long Chiyo because you're not the same Chiyo. I keep seeing hints of you flashing up, and hoping that it'll just take time for you to come back, but you're not coming. You weren't ever like this before, Chiyo, and it's frustrating me because I can't keep loving a memory if that's all there'll ever be. And that's all you are…just a memory."

Chiyo just stared in shock, and Naminé tried to comfort him, putting a soft hand on his shoulder to calm him down. "I said don't touch me," Nori repeated, brushing Naminé's hand away as well. He walked to the door, threw it open, and stated, "I'm leaving."

When the door slammed shut again, the two girls looked to each other and both asked, "Is he usually like that?" Chiyo continued sadly, "He never used to be."

"He's been going through some hard times these last few days," Naminé explained, "but I never thought he'd yell at you."

"Well it is your fault he yelled at me," Chiyo muttered.

"My fault?" Naminé seemed a little offended. "Granted, I like Nori, but that's apparently a common problem for him. I have my own steady relationship, and yes, I like to toy around with Nori sometimes, but what you saw is not how I toy with people. What you saw was me freaking out because my real boyfriend got sent away to die."

"Honestly?" Chiyo asked skeptically.

"Honestly…if I really wanted Nori, I would have erased his memories of you a long time ago."

"Chiyo frowned. "Is that supposed to be symbolic for something?"

"No."

"So you can really erase memories? Like an entire year of being in prison?"

"Are you talking abut yourself?" Naminé realized.

"Yeah," Chiyo sighed, "'cuz it obviously changed me…for the worse. I felt it, and Nori sees it, even though I'd hoped he wouldn't. I think…if I don't remember, it'll fix me."

Naminé bit a finger in thought. "There's a possibility. Are you sure you don't want to remember any of it?"

"Yeah…well no. I want to remember Nori crying at the beginning, and there was this one thing I overheard one day…"

Nori didn't go home right away. Both girls knew where he lived and he knew they'd go looking for him there. So he went to the Pig and Whistle instead. He went up to the bar and sat down with a sigh. While he waited for the bartender to come over, he glanced out the window at the thunderstorm developing. Why was the weather describing him so perfectly lately?

"Would you like your beer, as usual Anime Kid?" The bartender asked. He'd always called Nori "Anime Kid," and eventually it started to grow on him.

"No," Nori replied sadly. "You still have that coffee machine, don't you?"

"Yes sir."

"I'll take a rasberry mocha frapaccino and a huge bowl of ice cream."

The bartender left and a moment later returned with a giant bowl of ice cream for Nori. "No alcohol at all?" He inquired as he slid the bowl across the counter, "Why would you come to a bar and not get alcohol?"

"Eh," Nori complained slightly. "Beer's a celebration drink. I'm not in the mood for celebrating."

"What's wrong? I've never seen you here if you weren't celebrating something…or trying to calm down that Warren kid."

Nori just moaned "Eh," again and stirred his ice cream around. "I guess it's my own fault."

The bartender left to make the frapaccino and came back a while later. He pulled a coaster from under the counter and slid the drink across to Nori. "Not eating that either?" He asked, noticing that Nori had only taken one bite of the ice cream, and was rather scooping a bunch into the spoon and then dumping it back into the bowl. "Well, I hope you get to feeling better."

A second later Puss in Boots joined Nori at the counter and ordered a warm milk. He was slumped over, head resting in his hands, with an exhausted look on his face.

Curiously, Nori grumbled, "What's gotten you down?"

The orange cat sighed, answering in his Spanish accent, "My mother, she is sick. And my father lives off the garbage! And I have a litter of brothers...and there is no money…and the king, he says, 'You will pay your taxes!'" He sighed again.

"Worried about too many people?" Nori asked in understanding.

"Si," Puss replied.

"Yeah, me too."

After another little while, Spongebob sat down at the bar on the other side of Nori, ordering a club soda. Puss inquired of him, "And what is your problem large seafood-like man?"

"My friend's being a jerk," Spongebob responded in tears. "There's something that's making him not act like himself, and he won't believe me that he needs help."

"Dido," Nori mumbled, by that point actually having finished most of the ice cream.

Roxas cautiously looked around at the entryway to the castle. The walls were white…blindingly white. He was so surprised to see no one there. With all of the Organization, and the Heartless, and Lionel, and all his servants, wouldn't you expect to see someone when you first walked in? Unsure of what to do, Roxas just started wandering. He'd end up somewhere, somehow. Following his nose led him to a bedroom, which he felt strangely inclined to enter.

So he did, getting just the slightest protest of, What are you doing? from Sora. Roxas shrugged. How could he answer that question for Sora if he couldn't even answer it for himself? He wandered over to a desk at the back and found a picture in a frame of a girl leaning back against the chest of a red haired man. Those green eyes and the upside down teardrops under them…where did Roxas recognize that man from? Roxas fell back onto the bed, bringing the picture with him, to think. If he could only remember something…

Roxas woke up with a start to the sound of a girl's voice exclaiming, "Rock 'em, Sock 'em! You're back!" He sat up quickly, seeing the girl in the photo, and didn't get a chance to do anything before the girl had flung her arms around him in a huge hug.

A blonde with a mullet muttered a small, "Squeak-oo," and Roxas looked at him with a questioning expression. Why would someone from Organization XIII squeak randomly like that?

Demyx is bizarre, Sora informed him, thinking a little information might be helpful.

The girl pulled away from Roxas then, looking at his face like she'd expected him to say something in return. Cocking her head to the side, she asked, "Is everything okay?"

"Uh…" Roxas thought, looking back and forth between the two Nobodies. "Yeah."

A moment of slightly awkward silence passed, and then a third person appeared in the doorway, demanding, "What are you two doing in my room without me?"

Recognizing the voice, Roxas jumped to his feet exclaiming, "Axel!"

The face of the man in the doorway softened a little to hear and see his old friend. "Roxas," the redhead began, "you finally remember me?"

"Yup," Roxas replied happily, excited that he really did remember. He knew he had known the guy in the picture from somewhere.

"What are you doing in my room?"

"This is your room?" Almost came out of Roxas's mouth, but he stopped himself, instead answering, "I figured you guys would be here, if anywhere."

The girl smiled at that. Axel looked a little suspicious about the way Roxas was acting, and his mysterious appearance, but he still joined the threesome in his room to hang out.