A/N: Hello, my lovely readers and reviewers. I hear that stories can be as long as you want on here, so there's a chance that this story is going to break a record. xD It's just that this is chapter 22 and we haven't covered nearly half of this story. Does that scare you? xDD Also, I'm so sorry for the delay, but I have been rather occupied.

Disclaimer-Kingdom Hearts is still not mine.

"So, lemme get this straight," began Hayner as he scratched his head after Sora and the others wrapped up their own stories. The explanation of Nobodies and Heartless had completely confused Hayner, Pence, and Olette. "A person can become a Heartless when they lose their heart, but Heartless are also born from the darkness in people's hearts?" Roxas, Sora, Axel, and Naminé nodded.

Pence's face was screwed up in concentration. "And Nobodies are what's left behind?"

"Naught but an empty shell," confirmed Axel.

Olette gazed sadly at Roxas, a form steadily forming on her lips. "Roxas, you were a Nobody? You were always acting a little strange..."

While everyone else managed a laugh, Roxas looked at her as if she had slapped him in the face. "Thanks, Olette."

"Roxas and I were lucky, though," insisted Naminé, "Axel and the rest of Organization XIII..."

"...Were screwed, yes." Axel snorted, "Not that I could give a damn about the others fading."

Roxas half smiled. "I don't know," he mocked, "You and Larxene..."

Axel's eyes flashed dangerously. "Shut up, squirt."

Sora gazed up at the ceiling for a moment before looking back at Axel and Roxas. "Larxene? She sounds familiar," he mused, tapping his chin as he wondered how he even knew what gender Larxene was. "Just like Twilight Town did the first time I came here."

At that moment, Axel and Naminé exchanged a glance. "We told most of our story, but not all," admitted Naminé. "Sora hasn't finished his story, either."

Sora turned round and fixed her with a look that questioned her sanity. "What do you mean? I've told them everything!"

"Yeah, that's all Sora's ever told me and Riku," agreed Kairi, staring at Naminé and Axel with increasing interest.

Naminé's voice was uncharacteristically sour when she spoke. "You mean, you've told all that you remember."

Axel sighed. "It's time we told you all that we know. This stuff's gonna blow your mind, kid." The Usual Spot had become unusually quiet as everyone listened with interest, especially Roxas. He remembered a time when Larxene, Zexion, Marluxia, Vexen, Lexaeus, Axel, and Naminé had been absent from The World that Never Was, and then none of them had returned for a long time; one day much later, only Axel returned and refused to tell him a single thing about the other castle. Naminé hesitantly lowered herself on the arm of the couch while Axel began the story.

"After you, Goofy, and Donald found Pluto with the King's letter, you camped out in the middle of nowhere. Smart of you three, by the way," he added. "Anyway, Marluxia said a bunch of crap to you and the next thing you knew, you were walking right into the Organization's trap." He paused to shake his head at the Keyblade Master's stupidity. "How many people would follow a man wearing a black cloak into a weird looking castle?"

Sora rubbed the back of his head and smiled sheepishly. "It does sound like me," he agreed. "And it does sound a little familiar, especially the name. Larxene does, too."

Axel grinned, "I guess Nobodies aren't completely similar to their Somebodies. Sora, you're pretty smart." At the comment, Roxas glared but said nothing. "Anyway, after you three entered, Marluxia told you that as soon as you stepped in the castle, you forgot every spell and ability that you know. So you, Sora, learned how to fight with cards. Donald and Goofy became cards that aided you in battle. He basically gave you all that you needed to defeat us. Yes, us," repeated Axel at Sora's bewildered expression. "Instead of letting that rose-loving bastard test your power, I offered to fight you. You were a terrible fighter, kid. Then again, we cheated by inventing a way to fight and forcing you into it." He grinned, reminiscing the fight with Sora.

Naminé took this pause in the story as her chance to speak. Her eyes seemed to be very interested in admiring the ceiling. "You went to the Traverse Town created from your memories and no one remembered you. It took until the end of your visit for you to find out that everyone there was really just your memory. Even though they knew your name, they didn't know you. Then, Aerith told you to beware of fake memories." Regret filled Naminé even as she spoke the words. She hated Marluxia. Hated. And she wasn't so happy that he was back now.

Axel quickly looked at her with a trace of concern before he turned back to face the others with a cool expression. "So you went to other worlds made from your memories and as you ascended the floors, you forgot a lot. You started to remember things that weren't there before, like-"

"You thought that I used to be on the island with you, Riku, and Kairi," interrupted Naminé, "Which was, of course, a lie. It was I who put the memory in your head in the first place." Sora and Kairi's jaws dropped.

Kairi stared at her with a mixture of pity and shock, "Naminé, why?" Instead of answering her question, Naminé put a finger to her lips; a familiar gesture to Roxas.

"Later on, you forgot Kairi completely. You put me in her place and you thought that you made me a promise. The lucky charm that Kairi gave you turned into a regular yellow star that I was supposed to have given you." Naminé smiled sadly when she finished and said no more.

Kairi immediately jumped up from her seat beside Olette. "Naminé, how could you?" Her eyes were burning and her fists were clenched. For the first time ever, she felt like knocking her other to the ground.

"Now, hold on!" Axel cried in an attempt to diffuse the hostility. "Kairi, sit down. Sit." He growled at her; she reluctantly obeyed Axel's command as Olette grabbed her wrist. "It wasn't Naminé's fault. Marluxia was forcing her to. Got it memorized?" He sighed and scratched the back of his head. "Geez. Besides, neither of you even knew each other at that time."

"Marluxia was good at forcing people to do what he wanted," remembered Roxas with a nod.

Axel grinned, briefly, with pride. "Yeah, but I was the best at annoying him to hell. Anyway, as it goes, Vexen had made a replica of Riku and you and him were continuously meeting up with each other and beating the crap out of the other. Naminé was also manipulating his memories, so that both Sora and Replica Riku thought that they had made a promise to her. Following your defeat of him in Twilight Town, I killed him." There was absolutely no shame, the grin still on his face.

"...What?" Sora, Kairi, and Roxas stared at him with a little fear.

Axel shrugged. "One, I had to get Marluxia to trust me. And two, he almost told Sora about Roxas, couldn't have that. It would've been way too soon to lose my little buddy."

Naminé cut in once again. "After that, Axel told me to do what was right. I told Sora that his memories of me were fake, and I also told him what the Organization's true plans were."

"During which time," continued Axel, "Larxene found them and got really pissed. She pushed Naminé and made her fall unconscious which really pissed you off. Anyway, you, Donald, and Goofy killed her in a very violent way; she exploded, if I remember correctly." The memory was obviously fond for him, and he was fighting back laughter. "I went to kill Marluxia, and... we talked about this earlier, how he used Naminé as his human shield. Either way, Sora, Donald, and Goofy wound up killing him, too.

"And that's basically the rest of Sora's story. I'm sure I'm skipping out on detail, but I am only human." Axel smirked at his own joke while Roxas and Naminé groaned.

Kairi, much calmer and slightly embarrassed at her outburst, asked, "Didn't you say something about Riku being there?"

"Yep, but he remembers his time there, and if he didn't tell you, that's his call."

Naminé explained, "After Sora finished going through the floors of Castle Oblivion, I put him in a pod so that he would regain his memories."

"And that's just about where my story comes in, huh?" mumbled Roxas.

Axel nodded, resting his arm on his friend's shoulder, "A little later, but yeah."

XxX

Keira peered over the edge of the clock tower and staring down at the drop down to the train station with a certain degree of fear. She clutched her sea salt ice cream stick tightly, as if it would save her from falling. "Do you guys do this often?" she gasped in a way that suggested she did not find it normal at all.

"You bet!" answered Pence without shame. "We do it a lot during the summer time."

She eyed the black dots below that she supposed were people. "We're kind of... high up... don't you think?"

Hayner chuckled, grinning, "You're not afraid of heights, are you?"

"Of course not," she replied with a glare. Hayner was really harping on her nerves. "I'm just scared of slipping and breaking my neck. Then again, that's not so horrible, now, is it?" She added in a sour, sarcastic voice.

Both Pence and Hayner were at a loss of words. "Alright, you win this round," mumbled Pence with reluctance.

Hayner declared, "But next round is ours!"

Olette and Riku shook their heads. "The fact that you three are now counting these as 'rounds' is making me wonder how long this is going to go on," sighed Riku.

"You're not the only one," agreed Olette under her breath.

Inside of the train station, a certain pink-haired man with a black cloak was stepping off of a train and pushing people out of his way.

XxxxxX

"I been sneakin' into other world's computers," Cid began to tell Leon who, aside from Merlin, was the only other person in the house. "An' I got into a security camera in that Twilight Town. One of them Organization members just got there."

"What?" Leon ran a hand through his hair. "We have no way to warn them."

Cid smirked. "Them damn kids there should work on that."

XxX

Following the end of Axel and Naminé's stories, the tension eased a little and Olette asked, "So, what now? What are you guys here for?"

Roxas grinned. "Oh, c'mon, how do you know I didn't come here to see you?"

Hayner punched his arm, "Because you're grinning like an idiot."

"We really did come here because Roxas wanted to see you three," answered Axel with a smirk. "Guess I'm not enough for him." Everyone looked at one another before laughing.

Kairi wiped tears of mirth from her eyes. "And you haven't seen any cloaked people around here lately, right?" The destruction of the mansion in this world had been clearly caused by Hayner and some Dusks, but what about the other mansion in original Twilight Town?

"We barely see anything out of the ordinary these days, but you could see if Seifer's seen anything?" suggested Pence. Hayner and Roxas groaned at the very idea.

"There's one person that I never want to see again," sighed Roxas. "But I guess we have no choice."

Hayner offered, "We'll come with." Had it been for anyone else, Olette and Pence probably would have yelled at him for, once again, volunteering them.

Roxas stared at them, "Really?"

"Of course, Roxas," agreed Olette with a kind smile.

XxX

Pence jumped to his feet as he finished yet another popsicle. "Let's go buy some more sea salt ice cream!"

Olette glared at him. "I'm not using anymore of my munny."

The boys immediately began to whine. "Olette!"

"Nope, sorry," replied Olette with a grin, clearly enjoying the pain she was putting the other two through. She was usually the one paying for everything, though, and revenge was sweet.

Riku searched his pockets for some of the munny he had managed to pick up during the journey. "I've got some munny on me. Let's go, one more round couldn't hurt."

"You're officially the coolest guy ever, Riku," decided Hayner as they pounded fists. "Hm," he paused, a thoughtful expression unusual for him on his face, "At least, you're second to me."

Olette, Pence, and Keira sighed as they started to descend the Clock Tower.

XxX

Roxas and the others reached the Sandlot reasonably quickly and were unsurprised to find Seifer and his crew hanging out there. With a grin, Roxas recalled winning the Struggle trophy in that exact area. "Seifer, look who it is!" exclaimed Rai, who was so surprised that he forgot to add his trademark, 'y'know?' Seifer sighed, clearly expecting Rai to be pointing out a bunny or a butterfly, as he turned around to face Hayner, Olette, Pence and the others with a cold stare. When his eyes stopped on Roxas, they widened for just a moment. Then, they narrowed back into a glare.

"Roxas, I see you've decided to crawl out of whatever hole you've been hiding in, huh?" He surveyed him with little interest. "It's been almost a year."

"That means you're a stranger to the town, y'know?" sneered Rai as Hayner got into a fighting stance.

Fuu mumbled, "Foolish." It was difficult to tell if she was talking about Rai, Roxas or Hayner.

"Cool it, Hayner," ordered Roxas, taking a few steps ahead of his friend. "How's it possible for me to be a stranger when I didn't willingly leave?"

Seifer laughed, a cold and unusual sound, "And I suppose you're going to tell us you were abducted, right?"

Roxas shrugged meekly. "Something like that."

"Alright, I won't call you a stranger to this town." Seifer stated, but Roxas knew that more was coming, "If you can beat me." He looked back at Rai and nodded, and a struggle bat was thrown at Roxas. "Can you still struggle, Roxas?" He smirked at the boy's somewhat dumbfounded expression.

'Victory is mine,' thought Seifer with a grin.

A/N: Short chapter, but don't worry. I'll update sooon. :D Nice little appearances, huh? Because, let's be honest, Seifer is too awesome to be forgotten about. Yeah, and don't kill me for the sucky explanation of Sora's part in Chain of Memories. I'm totally blanking out about it. xD See y'all next chapter!