A/N: 6.14.11: As if this chapter wasn't long enough, I added to it; I added to the conversation between Riku and Keira on the beach because it will be quite relevant to the series.

Old: My summer vacation is finally here, hooray! Two quick notes before we begin: 1) I'm going to be out for about a week, house sitting. However, I'm allowed to use the laptop, so I may type the story from there. 2) This story is going to get increasingly cruel... you'll see why soon enough. Like I said, I am housesitting, so here I am, typing this chapter. Speaking of which, it's very long...

Disclaimer- I do not own Kingdom Hearts!

Day was breaking, fast and everyone was still standing on the bridge. Sora, Kairi, Naminé, Riku, and Roxas had already sealed the castle's keyhole to ensure no more enemies would appear there, or, at least, the Heartless. "Are you sure that you want to go searching every single world that you can get to for Belle?" asked Sora in a soft voice. The sun was rising in the distance and Beast glared at Sora for his ignorance.

"Of course I'm sure! I'll do whatever it takes to find Belle, even if it takes forever."

"I understand," he mumbled knowing that if he was in Beast's position and Kairi had been taken, he would not give up until he had found her.

Highwind roared as it landed beside the bridge; Axel and Roxas had been sent to retrieve it as well as take Keira up to rest. "Good luck, Beast."

"Thank you, Kairi." His voice was significantly different than it had been when he spoke with Sora just a moment earlier. He was showing much gratitude, and this surprised Sora given the current situation.

Riku waved a little as he climbed into the ship after Naminé. "We'll see you when our paths cross once again."

Sora waved, slowly and sadly before he and Kairi also climbed into the ship. "Take care!" was all he said as his old friend was left alone on the bridge to watch the sun rise.

Naminé appeared downcast as she sat down, smoothing down her ripped evening gown. "That was sad." The melancholy feeling was contagious within the ship, and Axel and Roxas were still regretting that they hadn't killed Xaldin. Silence engulfed the ship until Naminé suggested, "Kairi, we should change back into our regular clothes."

Once they were gone, Axel broke the silence next. "Seeing as how I'm not very willing to use a portal at the moment," he yawned, "And you seem to need my help anyway, I think I'll be sticking around for a while longer."

Roxas nodded, managing a yawn himself as Sora nodded. "Fine by me."

"Perfect." Axel stood and disappeared through the ship's doors.

Riku glanced toward Sora, who was gripping the wheel quite tightly, his mind on the fact that he had allowed another Princess of Heart to be kidnapped. "Where should we go next, Sora?" Roxas appeared to be anxious, a feeling that was immediately picked up by his other.

"What is it, Roxas?"

Sheepishly, Roxas mumbled, "I was kind of hoping that we could stop in the alternate Twilight Town?"

Much to his surprise, Sora grinned. "I was starting to wonder when you'd make that request. Sure, why not?"

The girls returned in time for the conversation, and Kairi asked, "What about Keira?" She asked. Sora sighed, 'I'd forgotten about that...'

"You two have friends in Twilight Town, right?" Riku asked of Sora and Kairi. Both nodded. "Keira and I can stay in that Twilight Town until you get back. I'm in no rush to go back to the other Twilight Town."

"That's a great idea, Riku!" Sora said in a voice that suggested Riku didn't get those often. "I'm sure Hayner, Pence, and Olette wouldn't mind if you two stayed in the Usual Spot until we get back."

Roxas yawned again, though there was a smile on his face. "Awesome."

Sora pressed a few buttons on the keyboard before standing. "Twilight Town's still a little bit away, and we could use some rest, so let's get some sleep; I put the ship on Auto Pilot."

Kairi stretched her arms and walked beside him. "You should probably contact the Radiant Garden afterwards; they'll probably want to hear what's up."

XxX

It was late in the afternoon in the Radiant Garden when the Committee received another transmission from the Highwind's crew. Sora sat at the front of the screen with all but Keira gathered around him. Leon, Cloud, Tifa, Yuffie, and the other members of The Radiant Garden's restoration committee stood in Ansem's lab, staring expectantly at the teenagers on the screen. "What's going on, guys?" asked Yuffie with a smile.

"We're on our way to Twilight Town as we speak," answered Sora replied. They could immediately tell that something was wrong; his tone seemed hesitant.

Leon raised an eyebrow. "How did things at Beast's Castle go?" At his question, Sora became highly interested in his nails, and Kairi, who was biting her lip, answered for him.

"Badly," she admitted. "The Organization took Belle."

Cloud ran a hand through his hair, asking the next painful question, "Keira?"

It was Roxas who answered. "Xaldin attacked her with his lances. He probably meant to impale her, but she wasn't even stabbed... too badly," he added in a voice that the Committee could not hear.

"Anyway, she's okay!" Naminé quickly reassured them. "We cured her, she just needs to rest."

Tifa, who had been holding her breath, released it. "What happened to Xaldin?"

Axel and Roxas shuffled their feet uneasily. "We thought we had defeated him, and killed him," began Axel.

"But he was still well enough to summon a portal and leave," finished Roxas with the shake of his head.

"All the more proof that Organization XIII, or rather," Riku stole a glance at Axel and Roxas, "Organization XI has done something to become much stronger."

Leon nodded. "We've been checking around, but since the keyhole was resealed, there's been no sign of Heartless, Nobodies, or Organization members; we'll keep our eyes open."

There was the sound of many pairs of distant footsteps as three people entered the lab. Riku and Sora grinned as King Mickey, Goofy, and Donald pushed themselves to the front of the screen. "Your Majesty, Donald, Goofy!"

The King smiled tiredly, "Nice to see ya, too, fellas."

Goofy was frowning a little. "Gawrsh, we overheard the conversation. Hopefully things turn out better."

Sora pounded his chest and smiled, demonstrating his amazing ability to be painfully optimistic. "Don't worry about us, guys."

"Make sure to tell Hayner, Pence, and Olette that we said hi!" quacked Donald.

"Of course, I won't forget."

Kairi averted her eyes to the windows. "We should get going; I think we've reached Twilight Town."

"Take care of yourselves, guys." Leon said before the screen clicked off.

"I'm a little more comfortable knowing that Axel is with them," admitted Aerith.

Leon shook his head, smirking. "I'm just glad he's gone."

"Squall!" Yuffie, Aerith, and Tifa scolded.

XxX

Sora was programming the ship to beam them down to Twilight Town when something unexpected happened, the back door flew open. Riku's eyebrows knitted together as he whirled around to see who was there. The girl that stood before him looked ticked off, but in a very playful way.

Keira frowned, her left arm resting on her hip. "Weren't planning to leave me behind, were you?" She asked incredulously. Her voice was raspy and she looked a bit tired, but otherwise seemed fine. Naminé and Kairi both squeaked out greetings and embraced her. "I'm glad to see I was missed, at any rate, even if you were just about to leave me."

Sora managed a somewhat nervous laugh as he pushed a key and joined the group in the center of the ship. "Well, c'mon. We're going to Roxas' Twilight Town, Keira." He gestured to himself and the others, "You and Riku are staying in this Twilight Town with our friends until we get back, alright?"

"Sure, why not?" She decided as she, Naminé, and Kairi joined the others.

Kairi grinned. "Olette will like another girl being around." A white light engulfed them and beamed them down to the Back Alley. Luckily, at the same time as they landed, Hayner, Pence, and Olette were exiting the Usual Spot. Hayner jumped back at first but soon relaxed as the forms of the group materialized.

"Sora, Kairi," gasped Pence. "What're you two doing here?"

"And who are they?" demanded Hayner in a rude voice, earning himself a look from Olette. Keira glared at Hayner, and Sora grinned.

"It's nice to see you guys, too."

"You're back so soon, we're just surprised," remarked Pence.

Kairi smiled as she hugged Olette. "We know, don't worry."

"I'm glad to see you're okay after that man-" Olette cut off her sentence as her eyes fell on Axel. The man who kidnaped Kairi was standing with them! "Kairi! He's-!"

"It's okay, he's on our side," she assured her. Meanwhile, Hayner and Pence's mouth had fallen upon at the sight of Roxas.

"That's-" Hayner gaped as Roxas smiled sheepishly and rubbed the back of his head.

Sora, feeling his 'Nobody's' discomfort, spoke, "Uh, guys? Why don't we go in so I can explain everything?" The trio led the way back inside.

Sometime later, Sora had finished his explanation. "It's nice to meet you all," said Olette.

"So, Roxas is your Nobody?" asked Pence.

Roxas and Sora answered together, "Yep."

"But now we, "Naminé gestured to herself, Roxas, and Axel," Don't seem to be Nobodies anymore. It's strange." Axel had been silent for a few minutes, deep in thought.

Then, a thought so bizarre and so likely came to Axel that he had to voice it. "What if that's the other reason Maleficent wants Keira? She made Roxas and Naminé into Somebodies..."

"So maybe they think she can make the Organization into somebodies!" gasped Naminé. "That makes a lot more sense."

"Not to me," groaned Keira, rubbing her head. It seemed that the discussion of Nobodies only ever gave her a headache.

Riku also contemplated this thought. "It seems less likely that Maleficent would care to make Organization XIII members into Somebodies."

"Maybe they're just using Maleficent?" suggested Kairi suggested.

Keira pursed her lips but said nothing. 'Either way, I'm caught between Maleficent and the Organization, both of which want to use me.'

"And she wouldn't know because the only people on her side, which we know of, that aren't Nobodies are Quince, Sephiroth, however many other keyblade wielders, and maybe Pete." He drew his attention away from the conversation and toward the very confused Hayner, Pence and Olette. "Anyway, that's not the point. Keira and Riku are going to stay here while we go to the alternate Twilight Town, is that alright?"

"Of course it is; we can show them around," answered Pence. "But, first things first, we'll all go to the mansion. I'm not sure if the transporter is still open."

Keira's worry slipped away at his words. Since Naminé, Sora and Roxas described the mansion, she had been excited to see it. "Perfect, I was afraid I wouldn't get to see any mansion."

XxX

The walk to the mansion took a surprisingly long time and, once they were close, the thickness of the trees in the forest made it dark and nearly impossible to navigate; impossible unless you stared at the small, but bright, patch of sky that the trees did not cover. Knowing it was probably the darkness more than anything that made the forest seem foreboding, Keira moved a little closer to Riku, who smirked and mumbled some sort of shot at her as Roxas spoke.

"When was the last time you guys came down here?"

Hayner shrugged lamely, "A while. Vivi's not down here, huh?" The creepy feeling set in even more at his words. After what seemed like hours, but was really just a few minutes, the large group stood before the mansion's closed gates.

"That's funny," mumbled Sora as he tugged on the gates though, despite his best efforts, they did not budge.

Kairi raised an eyebrow as Hayner, Pence, and Riku also began to pull on the gates, "Looks like we're being locked out."

xxx

Roxas sprinted out of the dark forest. His heart was racing and he was panting. Axel could be hot on his tail by now and he wouldn't have a clue. That thought alone caused the boy to nervously steal a look behind him. Empty. Roxas swallowed hard and ran up to the mansion's gates; they were closed.

Roxas panted and turned around while leaning against the black gates. Three dusks appeared out of thin air. "Don't call me and then lock me out..." The memory of the boy from his dream, Sora, using the Keyblade to unlock a keyhole came to Roxas's mind.

The boy stepped back and held out the keyblade, repeating the gesture and successfully unlocking the mansion's gates.

xxx

Roxas surveyed the scene before him. All of the boys, excluding himself and Axel, were tugging on the gates like there was no tomorrow. Amusement crept in on him as he watched their fruitless efforts. Finally, getting enough amusement, he cleared his throat, and the attack on the gate stopped.

"What is it, Roxas?" asked Sora in an agitated voice. Roxas must've smirked, because Sora glared at the boy. "What?"

"Sora," Roxas sighed, "If you're planning on pulling on those gates instead of using your keyblade, then at least start throwing people over the wall." He finished, the smirk and his sarcasm very obvious. All of the others erupted with laughter while Sora turned crimson. Keira grinned, realizing she probably could have given him the same helpful advice as she had just used Shadow Heart for the same purpose in Beast's Castle.

"That's right." Sora promptly unlocked the gate with a beam of light, and it swung open with ease.

"How is it I learn how to open keyholes with your memory and you totally forget?" teased Roxas.

Blushing, Sora mumbled, "Shut up." Kairi, sensing Sora's distress, returned to his side and laid a kiss on his right cheek; Olette sent her a questioning glance that clearly admonished the need for girl talk at a later time.

"Don't worry about Roxas," she said with a grin as Naminé giggled and took Roxas' hand into her own.

Axel called from the door of the mansion. "Naminé! Roxas! Let's go!" The others had gone inside while Roxas and Naminé remained standing outside of the gate. Blushing, but not releasing hands, they ran to catch up.

The mansion...was in even worse condition than before. Though it had been quite torn up before, if possible, it was even more so. "It looks like someone was looking for something," noted Pence as he took in the condition of the mansion.

"They wouldn't have found anything," stated Riku in a matter-of-fact voice, "Unless they went to the other Twilight Town."

"We better hurry to the library," decided Hayner. Sora led the way, but the group quickly halted at the foot of the right staircase. Something Sora hadn't seen in a while, a particularly large Nobody wielding a claymore, stood before them.

"Should've figured as much," mumbled Axel. With the reflexes of a cat, he summoned his chakrams, and attacked the Berserker before the keyblades were even summoned. By the time Roxas was about to jump in, Axel used one last hit and destroyed the Nobody "That was easy." The others stared at him with awe.

Few Nobodies were seen after that, save for a handful of dusks and creepers. Weirder yet, the library was completely empty; empty of Nobodies and absolutely all of the books in the walls. Able to tell that the room was not supposed to look that way, Keira muttered a, "Wow." Nothing bothered them as they descended into the lab.

Luckily enough, the transportation machine still appeared to be working but, nonetheless, when Sora edged over to it, Pence yelled at him to stop. "What's wrong, Pence?" Hayner asked, staring at his friend with alarm.

"Let me make sure that still leads to the other Twilight Town." He said, plopping in front of the computer. "Someone has obviously been here, so who's to say that nobody messed with the transportation machine?"

"Nobody's right," remarked Roxas under his breath. 'It probably was one of Organization XIII's Nobodies, knowing them. But what are they looking for?'

Pence's voice dragged Roxas back to reality, asking the room at large, "Sea Salt Ice Cream was the password, right?"

Sora nodded. "I'm pretty sure, yeah." Pence retyped the password and waited a few minutes.

A few windows popped up on the screen and the computer wiz nodded. "Alright, guys, to the alternate Twilight Town you go." With a smile, he jumped off the chair.

Sora turned toward Riku and Keira. "Watch out for any Organization members, guys." With absolutely no seriousness, they mock-saluted him. "Very funny."

"Have fun, guys!" called Keira as Sora, Kairi, Naminé, Roxas, and Axel shuffled into the transportation machine.

"Be good," added Riku, smirking at Sora and Kairi, both of whom blushed profusely. The next thing they knew, the group in the machine disappeared in a flash.

Keira joined the other girl as they led the way back to the library. "Olette, what's sea salt ice cream?" They boys exchanged a glance as they followed after.

XxX

Roxas was the first to tumble out of the closely packed machine and onto the lab's floor. With a sad smile, he noted that everything still appeared the same. As he pushed himself off of the floor, he realized that he could remember everything quite perfectly, down to his emotions when he smashed up the corner computer.

Naminé followed next, also staring at the computer. "You were angry, weren't you?"

"Can't exactly blame me for that, can you?" The sad smile was still on his face. "But that's over and done with - for now. Let's go find Hayner, Pence, and Olette."

Sora gazed at the door leading to the library, remembering how he had been unable to get through the previous time he had been there. "I wonder if we can actually go through now since you're with us. The town was supposed to help search for you the day that you were no longer remembered, right?"

Roxas' face softened a little. "Yeah, I wonder what happened after that."

"Roxas," began Naminé in a hesitant voice. "There's a good chance that if we get out of this lab, this world may be in chaos." She dropped her eyes, suddenly very interested in her blue sandals.

Roxas nodded, reaching and grabbing her hand. "I know. I can take it."

XxX

Pence, looking for an excuse more than anything to get some sea salt ice cream, decided that since Keira had no idea what it was, the group should head over to the beach. It was a nice day, so the idea was not exactly bad. At his proclamation, Keira muttered something incoherent. Riku's eyebrows furrowed together as he bent down a little bit to hear her. "I've never been to the beach before." Even as she spoke, though, she could see... something. Was it herself? She saw a girl with stripes in her hair standing on a beach... Riku, who had been attempting to control himself, burst out laughing and a blush burned her cheeks.

Hayner, Pence , and Olette stared at the silver-haired boy. "What's so funny?" wondered Olette.

"Keira's never been to a beach before." He told the others while shaking the hair out of his face. Hayner and Pence also burst out laughing. Olette, on the other hand, frowned something fierce and sent a death glare at her two friends; needless to say, the two boys sobered up instantly.

"Even more of a reason to go," decided Pence, face still red from laughing.

Hayner punched him in the arm, "With what money?" They both turned toward Olette, who sighed.

"We'll pay you back!" Pence promised as he and Hayner both fixed her with puppy dog eyes.

She threw her arms into the air, "Fine, fine."

XxX

Roxas ran into the library, but there was nothing important about it at all; it looked like an average personal library. Naminé was gone and he was a ghost to the remainder of the world. This sucked.

The mysterious boy passed by a unicorn-like statue. Oddly enough, it was staring at the floor. Roxas's eyebrows knitted together as he shivered. "This place is creepy," he mumbled, moving to the center of the room where there was a table with half-drawn image.

That was strange. Then again, nothing in this place had made sense thus far. Roxas blinked, remembering the weight in his left hand; Naminé's sketchbook was still dangling from it. The page that it was on had an image that looked awfully similar to the one on the table. Roxas decided to follow his instinct, dropping the sketchbook on the table and picking up a crayon.

He copied the other half of the image perfectly. Without warning, the floor disappeared and he fell into a more modern looking entrance to the basement, no doubt.

xxx

Naminé dashed ahead as she noticed something lying on the floor. It had been clearly collecting dust for a while, but, at the same time, it looked as it had before. The sketchbook was opened to another drawing of Roxas and Sora and, smiling fondly; she dusted it off and stood.

Kairi stared at the sketchbook with interest. "Is that yours, Naminé? It looks almost like..."

"Me and Sora, yeah," finished Roxas. "It is."

"I have many drawnings in my room," she informed them. "Pictures of Sora's memories, Axel, Roxas, and Riku."

Kairi grinned. "Your room is here, right? I have to see it."

Axel was the only one who seemed confused. "You drew me?" He asked incredulously. "Why?"

Naminé giggled and gave him an innocent smile. "Like it or not, I considered you a friend back in Castle Oblivion." She told him, "Even if you were willing to kill me to get to Marluxia." Roxas gaped as did Sora and Kairi.

"You were going to do what?" The three repeated in horror. Axel rubbed the back of his head and laughed nervously.

"Right. Never mentioned that... And I guess Sora wouldn't remember." Axel muttered. "Heh. Well... It's hard to not want to kill Marluxia."

"I agree, but you were going to kill Naminé if that's what you had to do?" demanded Roxas, calming down only a little when Naminé's hand rested on his shoulder.

She shook her head, still smiling. "He wouldn't have done it, Roxas. He would have found another way if he hadn't been interrupted." She was so confident in her own words that Roxas dropped the subject completely.

"Alright, since we're done with that... let's get going." Roxas led the way out of the library, and, they found, the second floor was still painfully dark. Naminé had always thought that the mansion needed more windows, but on the occasion that she had mentioned it to 'DiZ', he had dismissed the idea immediately. Why would a sadistic, revenge-driven man want more light in his musty mansion? The only rooms that actually did receive light was Naminé's and the downstairs, via the glass doors.

Naminé led the way to her room on the other end of the floor, pleased that there were no Nobodies; pleased and suspicious, as she recalled the Berserker in the original Twilight Town. Since the second floor had always been empty, it was difficult to tell if anything was amiss. However, when Naminé entered her room, she knew something was off.

Although her room was in no utter disrepair (as in, the drawings had not been ripped from the walls), there were signs that someone had gotten pissed off. The various items that had been on the large table were thrown about the room, with the exception of the two drawings that seemed permanently pressed to the surface. Every item had been thrown about the room as well, even the small cabinet was lying on its side. Everything had been messed with... with the exception of the drawings.

This much made Naminé guess that someone had either admired her work or learned something from them. If they had learned something, then it must have ticked them off quite a bit. Naminé stood alone in the center, taking in the mess that was her room.

DiZ was not all that much unkind to her. On the contrary, he had just treated her like a stray dog. The man wrapped in bandages led the way up the left staircase and pointed at the door. "This is your room." He simply told her. She had assumed, obviously wrongfully, that the man would show her some gratitude for putting Sora's memories together.

Then again... she wanted to do it. On the other hand, she did kind of enjoy it at Castle Oblivion. Okay, she enjoyed Roxas and Axel, but that was hardly the point. (A/n: Not canon; Roxas was obviously never in Castle Oblivion.)

Naminé entered the door and blinked at her 'room', the more appropriate term would have been prison. The entire room was white, like a room in a mental ward or hospital. She quickly whirled around, noticing that DiZ had followed her in, and fixed him with a puzzled stare; he laughed.

"You are a witch and a Nobody. Do you really require much more than this?" He shook his head, answering his own question. "Of course you don't."

"What about some kindness, or a bed?" she mumbled. She felt a little less timid after the ordeal with Marluxia, but DiZ's constant laughter (that was always directed at her) made her feel like a molecule.

"Do not expect so much sympathy. You are only a Nobody, you shouldn't even be." Was all h said before slipping out of the room.

Naminé turned back around, fuming. "Oh, but I bet you would hate it if I wasn't here," she grumbled. "Then what would become of Sora?" Although she still had to admit that she was doing this because she wanted to, the fact that DiZ thought of her as useless upset her. Looking around the room, Naminé vowed to do all of the drawings she could so that she could hang them up and make the room feel less empty.

Her rhetorical question from a few minutes ago received an unexpected answer. "It's your fault that he's like this in the first place." It was the voice of a girl, which was odd because, not only were there no other girls in the house, she was also quite aware that she was alone in the room. The girl's voice was similar to hers, but had a distinct difference. At that moment, a vision of a red haired girl with violet eyes came to Naminé's mind, and she immediately began to draw.

Ah, yes, thought Naminé with an ironic smile, the memories of her first day at the mansion were most lovely. She turned around and noticed that only Roxas was standing behind her. Sora, no matter how many times he had seen the drawings in the other world, couldn't help but stare at the wall decorations. Kairi was in awe and was even more surprised that there were several pictures of her there. Then again, she was Naminé's somebody. Axel was just surprised that there were any pictures of him at all.

"What do you think it means?" she mumbled in reference to her room's disrepair.

Roxas shook his head. "I'm not sure, but something tells me that if we go downstairs, we'll find more destruction."

"Mm," was all she said as she moved to the table and sat in the familiar chair. "The whole town was supposed to look for clues about the weird things that were happening on the day that no one remembered you, right?" She asked without looking at him.

He nodded, but, realizing that a nod could not be heard, spoke, "Yeah." He said in a tone that suggested he wanted to know what the girl was getting at. Ever since he had known her, she had spoken in riddles which probably had a lot to do with the two of them. Diz had never watned Naminé to tell Roxas anything directly, so she always hinted around; he smiled at the thought.

She closed her eyes for a moment before reopening them. "Do you think that they remembered you when we stopped being Nobodies or before then?"

Roxas blinked as he moved to stand beside her. Naminé was full of questions today. "Yeah..." He answered though, given she had asked two questions, it was not a true answer; he was quite confused as to what she was trying to say.

Sensing this, Naminé smiled. "Close your eyes, Roxas, and relax. Maybe then you'll understand what I'm trying to say... even I'm having trouble understanding it myself."

Though still unsure, he closed his eyes. 'This is the most suspicious place.'

Pence had said that, hadn't he? Or something like it. Suddenly, he understood and his eyes flew open. "You think that they remembered me and came here to look?" He could barely believe it, but, at the same time, it could be likely.

Naminé smiled softly as she stared up at him. "It seems possible, doesn't it?" She muttered more to herself than Roxas. "They probably saw the pictures and assumed it was you. Hayner always had such a temper, and he cared about you a lot. In his fit of rage, he probably threw anything he could get his hands on." Roxas cracked a smile at the way she knew his friends.

"Let's go find them." He said, but it was more of a suggestion than anything else as she scooted back her chair and stood; the others seemed to have their fill of the drawings for the time being. "Are you ready?" The reply was unanimous, and they exited the room. Naminé left last, smiling sadly at her room and drawings. She had never truly expected to return here, least of all with friends. Before leaving, she crossed the room and beneath the cabinet. It took a few minutes, but she finally pulled out a drawing.

The drawing depicted Naminé and Roxas holding hands.

XxX

Since Riku had not been away from home for long, he had not obtained much munny, so he promised Olette that he'd pay her back later. Or, better yet, he'd make Sora pay her. His eyes drifted to Keira's form at the edge of the beach, away from them. She was standing at the shore, letting the water lick up her feet. Her eyes were glazed over and seemed distant; it was almost like she was remembering something.

Riku quietly joined her while Hayner, Pence, and Olette ran off in different directions to buy more food. Upon hearing his footsteps, she began to lick at her melting popsicle as if she had been in focus the entire time. "What's wrong?" She blinked, quite sure she had never heard him speak to hear with such kindness.

Lying seemed like a good route, so she did, "Nothing." She stuck the popsicle in her mouth in hopes that he would not ask her further questions.

Riku sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "You know, when I got home, I'd stare out at the ocean and think about things, too. I thought about being in the darkness." He paused. "But I think that you're remembering something from your past. You don't really remember much since you lost your word, right?" She only awarded him a slight nod; so slight that if he had blinked, he would have missed it.

She was unsure what made her decide to speak but realized it was, ultimately, that Riku had shared something so intimate. "I remember the beach. I think that when I was little, I went to one with my family." It took much self-control to not add, 'It was where Quince made me a necklace of shells that I still have.'

He smirked, "I knew no normal person could never see the beach." He ruffled her hair, and she responded by shoving him in the water, not that he minded too much.

"There's... something else, too." Though she really did not want to speak aloud the next part, she did. "There's... something, like a dream, maybe? I keep picturing this girl that sort of looks like me standing at the edge of a dark beach." Even as she spoke the words, she could picture the girl wearing something of an evil smile.

XxX

The state of Naminé's room was only a small clue that someone had been inside of the mansion. The sure sign was that the first floor of the mansion was in serious disrepair. The glass of the back door was cracked in some places and shattered in others. More rubble had fallen to the floor, statues had been broken, along with other signs that someone had been in a pissy mood.

Even when they reached the woods, they saw more signs pointing to the obvious. Branches had fallen, trees were missing layers of bark, and branches were snapped. The most suspicious thing of all occurred when they reached the wall. Roxas' eyes widened as he walked to the area where the hole used to be. "They sealed it? What the hell?" Without warning, he summoned Bond of Flame and hacked away to no avail.

Axel yawned with boredom as he summoned his weapons. "Alright, step aside, kiddies. I can blow a hole in this wall." Roxas distantly wondered how long Axel had been waiting to do so as he moved. He took a few steps back before blazing fire at the wall and hurling a chakram at it with great speed. Apparently, the old wall hadn't been sealed well since as a gap reappeared in the same spot as it had been, only slightly bigger. Smirking with pride, he was the first to step through. Immediately, he flung out his right arm to stop Roxas. The Commons was not a pretty sight, not at all; it looked like a war had been waged there.

"There's a good chance that if we get out of this lab, this world may be in chaos.' Roxas recalled Naminé's words as he ducked under Axel and thoroughly entered the area. He turned back toward the others, eyes clearly saying, 'Let's go to the Usual Spot!'

Axel briefly took in his surroundings before following after Roxas, who had shot off like a bullet in the direction of the back alley. Once in the alleyway, there was not a single crack, not a trace of a fight or anything at all; it was the complete opposite of the Commons. Roxas threw back the curtain and crept into the Usual Spot; the others, however, respectively remained in the alley and tried to catch their breath.

Roxas could have cried out with relief. His friends still looked the exact same as they had before, the only difference being they looked a little more melancholy. Hayner was leaning against the wall while Pence and Olette spoke softly. At least, they had been until Roxas came in. Hayner's eyes drifted to Roxas and he immediately ran across the room. Pence's mouth dropped open and Olette smiled with relief although her eyes filled with tears as they joined Hayner.

"Roxas." Hayner stopped a few inches from his friend's face.

"You remember me?" asked Roxas mockingly. Hayner glared at him for a moment, then smirked and punched his arm.

"No shit, sherlock. It's nice to see you again, too."

They pounded their fists, and Roxas asked, "What happened to the Common? The wall? The forest? And how about the mansion?" He raised an eyebrow, folding his arms.

Pence decided to explain. "It was really weird, everyone in town randomly remembered you at the exact same time. Then, we," he gestured to himself and the other two, "Remembered that we were going to search the town to find out what had been going on. But by the time we remembered all of that, there was no trace of you. So, we did as we promised and searched all of Twilight Town."

"We didn't get any answers anywhere in the town, so we finally went to the mansion," continued Olette. "We never expected there would be anything there to explain where you had gone, and were about to give up when we found the white room, the same one where that girl was supposed to mysteriously appear."

""There were tons of drawings with you in them, even one of your room," said Hayner. "One of the pictures had you and another guy holding hands. For some reason, we could distantly recognize the guy."

Pence chuckled. "Hayner threw a fit. He messed up everything in the room besides the drawings. He wouldn't mess with the table itself, either."

"When we went to the library, we noticed how high-tech it looked. But when we tried to go into what we assumed was the basement, there was some type of barrier that stopped us," remembered Olette with a sad smile.

Pence shivered, "Which wouldn't have mattered anyway because, at that moment, we were ambushed by those white things that we saw around town in the past. They were going crazy. When we got to the first floor of the mansion, they started to attack us and attack the mansion, so we ran off and more and more of those white things followed us and destroyed everything in our path. When we got to the commons, they were still attacking stuff!"

Hayner nodded, not looking very pleased at the memory, either. "We pretty much thought that we were goners, especially when Seifer started to tell them to beat it, but then this girl in a sun dress appeared out of a black portal. Anyway, she somehow made the white things disappear. She made another portal appear but... She smiled us like she knew us, then she left. We kept hoping you'd show up like that or something, but you never did."

Roxas was quite interested with what had happened. Clearly, someone (likely the Organization) had done some damage control when Hayner and the others became aware of Roxas' existence. "Wow," he said rather lamely before adding, "That girl was Naminé."

"Did you know her, Roxas?" inquired Olette, eyebrows raised. "She was so transparent that she looked like a ghost!"

Roxas smiled a little. Naminé's words in the lab had been with a purpose; she knew that at least the Commons were in disrepair. Sometime after he had rejoined Sora, she returned to the alternate Twilight Town to save his friends. He really had to remember to thank her later. "At that time, she and I were both like ghosts. Only, she wasn't with her other half, and I was. I'll explain everything to you guys, but I'm gonna need help." They fixed him with strange stares as he ducked his head out of the curtain. "Come on in, guys, I need your help to explain."

Hayner and the others watched with odd feelings as the other group entered. For some reason, the brunette boy looked vaguely familiar, as did the red-haired girl, and even the red haired man. Naminé was very familiar, of course. "You're that girl-!" exclaimed Pence.

"It's nice to see you three again, too."

"Roxas, you and he," Olette gestured at Sora. "Look very alike."

Both boys scratched the back of their heads. "We've got a lot of explaining to do."