It was raining…hard. I had been having a hard enough time carrying Hallom through the forest before it started pouring. By then, I had grown too tired to carry him any longer. When I first dropped him from my back, in desperate need of a break, he just muttered, "Keep moving," and pointed out the next direction to go.

"I…I can't carry you…anymore," I panted.

Since he didn't say anything in return, I grabbed his arm and drug him a little ways. I stopped, looking back to him to se what he thought. His expression hadn't changed a bit since we left the warehouse. He just stared in some sort of dazed recovery and pointed me in the right direction. I pulled him along for quite a while, until I got tired again.

"Can't you walk yet?" I questioned, frustrated and exhausted, pulling him to his feet and trying to get him to stand up on his own.

He didn't say anything. His head just drooped down in my arms. I tried to push it back up, hoping it would work better the second time. It didn't work any better, and that time, when Hallom fell, I wasn't there to catch him. I too collapsed to the ground, shaking in an almost anaphylactic shock.

Hallom looked over to me from where he'd fallen. He looked like he slightly understood what was happening to me. That made one of us, since I had no clue. I just knew I was freezing cold and my stomach was cramping. Blinking back the pain it caused him, Hallom pulled himself to me and wrapped his arms around my body. He put one hand on my face, but pulled it off quickly, in shock.

"Y-you've got a fever," he stumbled in confusion.

"A…a fever?" I managed to get out. "I-I'm soooo cold."

Neither of us spoke for a while after that. He just held me as I quivered away in the pouring rain until I suddenly disappeared from his grasp, leaving him helpless in the middle of the forest.

Chiyo clung tight to Becca as they followed Nehemiah through the frozen wasteland. How much longer could it possibly be cold? They had all brought jackets and hats, but it was by no means enough to keep them warm. Nehemiah constantly pressed on, shivering as he continued to watch their compass. They had to keep moving northwest. Too bad they hadn't known it would be so cold. The sky was dark; the wind blew bits of ice at them; the snow never ceased crunching beneath their feet. They knew it was really cold when they could see their breath. Still, red nosed and numb toed, they pressed on.

All of a sudden, Becca fell to her knees in a burst of shivering, stuttering, "I-It's soooo c-cold."

"You're just now realizing this?" Nehemiah inquired, a little humor in his voice.

"Quit it Nehemiah," Chiyo ordered. "I think something's really wrong."

Just like Dusty and I, after a moment or so, she disappeared.

Nehemiah kept walking and complained, "Great. Just as soon as we finish this rescue mission we'll have to go find her."

"You could try being a little more sympathetic," Chiyo noted. "I mean, she could be in danger."

"How do you expect me to feel sympathy for her when I've been freezing my butt off for an hour? I'm sure she's some place warm by now."

"Nehemiah!"

"Remind me later when I'll actually care. Right now, the faster we get to Tia Dalma, the better."

"Uh…Nehemiah," Chiyo began as she stepped off of the ice and into sand, "I'm not cold anymore."

The two of them looked up at the piles of sand making up some sort of African desert, ad the temperature instantly rose at least 70 degrees. They pressed through the constantly changing dunes, trying their best to pursue a northwestern path. At the top of one such constantly changing dunes, however, the two of them fell, tumbling over the edge and down to the bottom. Along the way, Nehemiah dropped the compass, and it was instantly buried in sand.

You would think they could monitor their course by watching the sun. After all, a blistering hot desert must have a sun, but there wasn't one. Exhausted, the two picked themselves off the ground and kept walking. At least, as Nehemiah put it, if they kept moving, they'd eventually make it out of the sand. They could figure out where they were later. After what seemed like forever, a pleasant smell reached both noses.

"Rain?" Chiyo thought.

"Plants," Nehemiah corrected, and they both took off running to it.

They had both been correct, as they quickly returned to a normal area of the forest where rain was pouring down. Nehemiah pulled out the map as they walked. They were trying to find some big landmark that might be on the map somewhere so they could determine their location. At the moment, however, all they could see was trees and rain.

For several minutes, they walked on like that, quietly searching for notable structures until Chiyo pointed out, "Hey Nehemiah, look. A boy."

Nehemiah looked a few feet away to the motionless boy, asking, "Do you think it's a trap?"

"What do you mean?"

"It could be one of those tricks of the forest. You get close to see if he's okay, and he attacks."

"I don't think so," Chiyo disagreed, "Miyagi-osan never said anything about it." She walked toward the boy.

Nehemiah cautiously followed, mentioning, "Unless, of course, your weakness is helping people, like mine is."

"Oh, come on Miah," Chiyo urged, bending down to turn the boy onto his back. As soon as she had, Nehemiah grabbed her away from the still motionless body. He sighed in relief as she mocked, "Miyagi-osan really got you scared, didn't he?" She knelt down to feel his pulse. "He's still alive Miah. We should do something."

Nehemiah looked away like he was trying to refuse. While he wasn't paying attention, Chiyo screamed. He immediately turned back to her and pulled her away again. She shook out her hand, and they both looked into the now open eyes of the boy. As frightened as Chiyo had been, the boy looked even more scared. For some reason, the hopeless look on his face won over Nehemiah.

"Are you all right?" He inquired.

"Yeah," Chiyo answered, "just a little surprised."

"Well that's good, but I was talking to him."

Chiyo smiled, and the boy slowly nodded his head.

"Can you even move?" Nehemiah questioned. After a few seconds in which only the boy himself knew he was trying to stand, the boy shook his head slightly. Nehemiah continued, "Here, let us help you."

They quickly pulled him up in a sitting position, leaning him against a tree, as Chiyo wondered, "What happened to you?"

He just shrugged.

"How did you get out here if you can't even move?"

"A girl," he said quietly.

"Where is she now?" Nehemiah demanded curiously.

Another shrug accompanied a single word: "Gone."

"She just left you here?" Chiyo seemed shocked.

"Well it's…it's not exactly like that," he muttered.

"Then what did happen?" Came the slightly frustrated question from Nehemiah, but it got no more response than a halfhearted shrug.

They waited silently for a long time until the boy felt uncomfortable and answered, "A lot."

Realizing he wasn't going to get more from the boy, Nehemiah stated, "Well, my friend thinks we should help you, but you've gotta know we have something to do along the way. As long as you don't mind us making a stop, we'll get you help."

The boy nodded. He seemed to be thinking about something else.

Chiyo slid down a tree to the ground with a sigh, mentioning, "Now if only we knew how to get where we're going."

"That would be helpful," Nehemiah agreed.

"Where are you going?" The boy asked after a while, realizing he'd have to help them to get help himself.

Nehemiah pulled out the map and pointed to the 'X' Nori had drawn. "There."

"The…island?" The boy questioned, just to make sure he'd seen the right thing.

"Island? I don't see any water," Chiyo noted, examining the area around the 'X' on the map.

"Well, it's…uh, never mind."

"You know the area?" Nehemiah inquired with anticipation.

He nodded again.

"Can you take us there?" Chiyo was getting excited.

"Why? Why do you want to go…there?"

"Do you not want to go there?"

The boy slowly shook his head. "No one does."

"We don't want to either," Nehemiah reassured. "Believe me, but we have to. We told our friend we would meet someone there."

The boy tried to work through it in his head, first asking himself, Who would agree to a rendezvous there? There wasn't anyone there except…the queen, and Lionel's invisible servant who brought food every day. Unless they were…he'd ask.

"Nori," the boy began and then stopped.

"What?"

"Your friend…Nori."

"How did you know that?" Chiyo wondered in amazement.

"I just came from there," he replied. "It's that way. But…I wasn't…going to go back."

Suddenly, Nori slipped. He called for help just before it happened, but it seemed that everyone was too preoccupied by whatever happened to Dusty to notice as his last finger lost its grip on the rock. He thought for sure no one would realize he'd fallen when he started to feel that dropping sensation in his stomach. A second seemed to last an hour before he stopped abruptly from a jerk on his shirt.

Nori looked up just in time to see Warren rip him back up onto the rock, commenting, "Get up here. We've got a friend to save still. Plus, I want to make sure you die by my hands." He smiled mischievously, and Nori smiled back, knowing it was meant as a joke. The normal Warren had returned.

The group of four quickly got of the rock—it doesn't matter how, just that they did—and headed toward the castle once again. They obviously had a few more encounters with the Hubabaloos; though, none were quite as exciting as the last. Not much horrible happened, since both Warren and Nori had overcome their greatest weaknesses. Warren's had been the control the darkness had over him, and Nori's being Warren. Neither Troy nor Madeline could be bothered by the forest because they both lived in it, making their presence acceptable.

Therefore, they continued on, fairly easily, until they approached the castle. In their way, preventing their grand rescue mission was a neon green hole separating them from the castle door. Out of it just crawled hundreds and thousands of continuously created Heartless. The three boys looked at each other in shock, as if they had expected their entrance to be a bit easier. Madeline just waved and turned to leave.

"This is where my job ends," she announced as she walked away. "It was nice seeing you again brother."

Each one of the three pulled out whatever weapon they might have. Warren's fire was the most useful. All Nori had was a dagger, which was not good for fighting hoards of creatures all seeking his most vital organ. Even worse, was when Troy noticed they had weapons, he ripped the shark tooth necklace off his neck and held it in front of him just to make him feel safe. It was going to be a hard battle. Nori and Warren glanced over to him. He could have at least brought something. Now he was going to be no more help that I would have been in the same situation.

"Now what?" Troy asked, after pretending that he felt secure for a second.

"We fight," Warren replied with a tone that said he thought it was obvious, as each of his arms burst into flames. "I can take out most of these."

"That leaves just one problem," Nori noted. "Once they're all gone, we still can't get into the castle. The hole will still be there."

"I think we'll have to cross that bridge when we get there," Troy mentioned, shaking a Heartless off his arm.

"Now, we fight," Warren finished. It wasn't two seconds before a hundred Heartless in the front had disappeared in a burst of flames. Somehow, though, the total number hadn't seemed to decrease any. "How do they just come back like that?" Warren demanded furiously as the number continued to grow.

"We won't be able to defeat them all," Nori realized. Then, he had an idea. He turned to Toy, "We'll hold 'em off as long as we can. You find a way across." He ran in front of Warren and fell to his knees holding his hands out in the air. Instantly, a wall of light appeared between the three boys and the Heartless.

Warren shaded his eyes from the light, but Nori quickly explained, "They can't see us now. Just get anyone of them that tries to pass the wall."

Compliantly, Warren prepared a ball of fire in his right hand to throw at the first one that might appear around the wall of light. Troy thought really hard for a very long time. There just didn't seem to be any way into the Castle That Never Was.

Marluxia and Lexaeus were still following the path Nori had left behind. They were not aware that the group had separated, so when they found the path following the invisible road, they didn't bother looking for the one Nehemiah had followed. They simply chased Nori, about five minutes behind him the whole time. Marluxia had just gotten off the phone with the castle when Lexaeus pointed a little bit in front of them. A huge pillar of light had just appeared through the forest.

"Nori," Lexaeus stated.

Marluxia added wth a laugh, "He just revealed his location," and they ran off toward the light.

Warren was doing just fine keeping the Heartless from passing their blockade. Nori, however, was growing tired from holding the light for so long. After all, creating a wall of light in the deepest corner of the dark forest was very exhausting.

Just before Nori's strength would have given in, Troy shouted, "Warren! Look out!" He suddenly dove at Warren from behind, pushing him out of the way of a blow from Marluxia's scythe. Unfortunately, Troy couldn't get himself out of the way as well. Both boys turned around, saw Troy, and knew he was dead. Nori's wall of light instantly dissolved from the shock. They both looked furiously to Marluxia and Lexaeus.

Warren was just about to blast the newcomers with fireballs when another voice asked from the door of the castle, "Warren? As in Roxas's friend with the long hair who called Zexy kitten, Warren?"

Surprised, Warren looked behind him to glance curiously at the girl Katex who had said that as Marluxia added, "Roxas's friend Warren who lives in Central City?"

"Yes, that one," Warren agreed, realizing after a second that they were still considering him on their side.

"Then what are you doing here the newly illuminated prince?" Lexaeus questioned, obviously referring to Nori as the prince because the light had been passed down to him by the "queen."

"Um…I," Warren began, at a loss for words. To give him a clue, Nori started back away, looking like he was trying to escape. That did give Warren an idea, and he roughly grabbed Nori by the arm. "I was just bringing him to you."

After both Nobodies looked at Warren skeptically for a second, he continued, "But when I got here, no one would let me in, so I needed his help to protect myself from your Heartless."

They didn't seem too convinced by Warren's story. However, another cloaked man appeared through a portal, immediately grabbed Nori and Warren, and returned to the castle. The two friends looked around in a shocked daze as they realized they were in a completely empty, white room. The cloaked man who had brought them there chuckled from a ways away and threw his hood off, revealing grey hair and orange eyes.

"There is the door," he stated, pointing to his left. "What are you waiting for?"

Nori and Warren looked at each other and then decided to step toward the door. A cage instantly fell from the ceiling, trapping them in a very small space.

Xemnas laughed again. "Welcome to the Castle That Never Was. Did you honestly think I would let you two go? You are our prisoners…our enemies…denizens of light. It isn't like you would find what you're looking for here anyways. Your precious 'Queen' is secured somewhere very far away from here. Does that surprise you? How sad. You traveled so long and so hard just to find you had come so close, yet were still so far. Is this all that's left of your little expedition crew?"

He stopped to shake his head and then continued, "Of course, there is one way to get out. If you can find it, that is, there is a path that leads to the door. I trust you're ingenious enough to find it." With that, he formed a portal and left the room.

Roxas once again sat anxiously in Vexen's laboratory. He looked around curiously as the scientist spoke in the corner with Zexion about how to proceed.

"I'm sure I remember something about a probe and a hat," Vexen mentioned, trying to remember the last thing Roxas would have forgotten.

"Yes," Zexion agreed, "that was before he lost the memories. Afterwards was…'it broke.'"

"How are we supposed to make that into a threat?"

Zexion smiled evilly. "Be creative. I have something else I must care for immediately." Then, he left. Vexen sighed and returned to where Roxas was waiting.

"Why are you so worried?" He began, adding with a smile that made him see like he was lying. "It shouldn't hurt at all. After all, you only tricked us into believing you had returned to us." He pulled the largest needle in his lab from the table near him and filled it with the oddest color potion he could find continuing, "You see this probe? It's filed with a potion specifically designed to turn you into the biggest yaoi character ever."

Roxas looked back at him confused, but the word did give him an eerie feeling inside.

Vexen continued describing, "Yes, you know the kind. Those obviously gay ones that destroy the reputation of the actual character, who love to flaunt their demented personalities in public, continuously displaying their affections for random people…or things…particularly hats."

"Hats?" Roxas questioned, disgustedly.

"Anything…actually, everything."

"Everything?"

Vexen moved to stab the needle in Roxas's collar bone, but just as the boy winced, unable to stop it in anyway, he looked across the room. "Oh dear," he muttered.

"What?" Roxas asked, his eyes instantly flying open.

"It broke…who knows what might happen to you now. As far as my research has gone, you might very well turn into a bridge."

Roxas tried to repeat," What?" but nothing came out. Once again, he reached toward a pounding head and fell into a dream of memories, real and fake.

"The memory bridge," echoed through the darkness.

"We killed the beautiful memory bridge," a voice complained, sounding like he might cry. Then, the face of the pirate boy in the jail cell appeared. He was crying. He cried and sobbed through the darkness, muttering something about hats.

Suddenly, something pushed Roxas to the floor of the cell, restraining him within the body of his dead conscience. His chest filled with a horrible pain. A light filled the cell, revealing several more people. There were the two boys from the picture—Nori and Warren—and the girl from the Island. Wesley was there too, seeming frightened. The girl stole a key from the pirate, and only a moment later, they all left Wesley there by himself to fight Axel.

For some reason, Roxas's mind instantly jumped to the Pig and Whistle. The long haired boy was attacking someone, and Roxas was trying to stop it—still inside the body of his conscience. His conscience got elbowed in the gut, sending him to the floor. Then, the long haired boy threw a ball of fire toward him. A keyblade quickly appeared in his hands to block the flame, but the boy kept coming.

As they scrambled to their feet and ran toward the back of the room, the shorter haired one popped out from behind a counter with a camera. The flash came as a surprise while he explained, "We're making memories. You never know when Warren might do this again."

The conscience was about to mention, "This happens all the time," when Roxas flipped to another memory: sitting at the bar when the picture he had found in his shoe had been taken. He took a giant gulp of the beer he'd been served—his very first one ever—and immediately spit it back out again.

"Awe, you don't like it?" The shorter haired one inquired.

"It's not that bad," the boy with long hair added. "Just try it again."

"No," Roxas insisted. "It's gross."

"Come on," he pushed, holding the glass to Roxas's lips, "open up."

Roxas shook his head. A person next to them at the bar bumped the boy's arm, throwing the beer all over Roxas. Roxas didn't know that part, though, just that the guy with long hair had spilt it over him, and that the bartender had taken a picture of it.

And his memory continued coming back, piece by piece.

Zexion had finally found Xaldin and pulled him aside for a moment. "You know I did some research on the things you said, and the results were definitely conclusive. It seems your pirate friend has a disorder known as Akaoli Effryl. It's apparently a chemical imbalance that makes him rub people wrong. It's nothing his fault. No matter how friendly he is, how well he gets along with someone, they will all eventually want to kill him."

"He…so he's spent his whole life on the brink of being killed is what you're meaning," Xaldin clarified. A nod from Zexion allowed him to add, "That explains some things."

"Yes, certainly," Zexion agreed, "particularly the self destructive things he did, and his general lack of respect for the fragility of life."

"That suddenly makes killing him seem like the merciful thing to do."

"Not exactly. He's got the personality of a fighter, which means he'll keep searching for someone who doesn't hate him, possibly and entire lifetime."

"But he'll never find it." Zexion shook his head after a second, so Xaldin added, "Well, I was headed there right now…"

"What do you intend to do?" Zexion questioned, following curiously.

"I'm not sure yet."

Despite the uncertainty, Xaldin formed a portal, and both of them walked through to Wesley's cell. Standing there, seeming slightly uncomfortable, was Xemnas, staring blankly at a pool of blood as the remnants of three members hung in the air. He seemed somewhat upset. Perhaps it was the blood, perhaps the loss of three of his members, perhaps both. Zexion too was growing uneasy from the sight of so much blood. Xaldin, on the other hand, was just increasingly angry.

"He's dead," Xemnas stated bluntly, confirming their suspicions. After a moment, he asked, "You wouldn't have something to do with it, would you?"

Xaldin frowned slightly. "Why?"

"Only the three of us and Vexen can get in here."

"It couldn't be Number IV or I," Zexion insisted. "That pirate was honest proof of our scientific discovery. We already had to rescue him once."

Both Xemnas and Zexion then turned to Xaldin for a response. Defensively, he answered, "I promised he could die at the hands of the Heartless."

They were both completely shocked by that comment, so it was a moment before Zexion curiously asked, "You did what?"

"It was a small request of his, and I told him I'd talk to you about it…I suppose it's too late now."

"Not necessarily," Zexion mentioned.

Xemnas agreed, "He's right. If it hasn't been too long—which it hasn't, or else he would no longer be here—the Heartless may still be attracted to his heart. That would make a wonderful addition to our collection…Why would you make such a promise if it was, in fact, simply a request? You never seemed like that kind of a person."

After pausing awkwardly to decide how best to explain, Xaldin answered, "He expressed interest in becoming a Nobody. I found it odd, like most of the things he did. It was interesting having him around, trying to figure out what was going through his mind. He's the only person I've ever met who almost got a lie past Luxord…There's just so much left to know about a person with no powers who could defeat one of us. What if we could have gotten that strength on our side? Isn't it a shame?"

Xemnas allowed a slight smile to cross his face, a look that only came about when he was up to something.