The castle was dingy and old. With a creak, the door swung open slowly, and footsteps echoed lightly through. Dust coated everything, and the fountain between the two staircases barely worked.

"Now what's this about a funhouse?" Xemnas muttered, looking around as he toted his bags in.

"During the competition, Tsuki had set up some sort of challenge in here." Xaldin answered, arriving next. "It ought to be gone by now." Xemnas nodded as an answer.

"Damn, this place is a mess." Xigbar muttered, stomping in. With a grunt, he threw a large bag onto the ground. "What's in that thing?" He complained, rubbing his aching back.

"My weights." Lexaeus answered. "I offered to take it for you." With a smile and disturbing ease, the Silent Hero lifted the heavy bag with one hand without breaking a sweat.

"That's scary." Xigbar stared, waking up when he heard laughter.

Ariel came in next, carrying the keys to the ATV that had gotten them there.

"Lucky girl." Xigbar complained again.

"If you want, we can trade. I'll carry the heavy load, and YOU can be pregnant." The woman taunted. Vexen laughed him and Zexion covering the rear.

"Thank you, but no thank you." Xigbar retorted. Ariel giggled, which, oddly enough, made Xigbar smirk in pride.

Castle Hallow Bastion had last been used by Maleficent, and was in disrepair. The library door hung off its hinges, and the hallway door had the heartless symbol on it.

"I have a feeling there are more of those." Vexen muttered, referring to the sign.

Zexion sighed, looking out the front door, back to Radiant Garden. Looking around, the man saw Ariel tugging at his shirt sleeve. With one last look, Zexion followed the others through the door and into their new home.

"Hey, this wasn't here last time." Xaldin muttered.

Suddenly, something fell from the ceiling. It was a ball, like from one of those child playpens, and was light blue. It hit Zexion on the head lightly, and for a second, it didn't faze him.

"Guys." Zexion moaned. Everyone looked back to him. "Why does life hate me?" He moped, sniffling with big, sad eyes.

"What the hell?" Xigbar asked. Suddenly, another ball fell, a bright red one, hitting Xigbar's foot.

"WHAT THE HELL!" Xigbar roared, holding his foot. I would continue writing what he said if not for the fact it was a string of profanities I've never heard the likes of.

"Why! Why me?" Zexion fell to his knees, and Xigbar immediately got mad at him, roaring his rage, and cursing a storm.

"I have a feeling Tsuki's fun house never left." Ariel sighed.

Lexaeus slowly looked up to see even more balls falling down.

"RUN!"

"That… was odd…" Vexen muttered, looking to his two unconscious teammates. For their own safeties, Xigbar and Zexion had been knocked out.

Xemnas, with a sigh, wiped his hair back, and looked to his friends.

"We have work to do." He commanded.

"Okay, where do you come from?" Vexen muttered to himself, watching the ballroom as he threw random objects and observed the balls falling onto them. It seemed they only affected the living. It was his job to find and destroy the source of this room's emotional disruption. He was not having any luck doing so.

As we move to another area of the castle, to the very peak, Lexaeus was doing the heavy lifting as usual.

The roof had many holes, some huge, some cracks in the tile, and they needed serious repair. The large man was in the middle of doing so, and to his knowledge was being watched.

Across the rooftop sat Sephiroth, watching the Silent Hero with no emotion, and not doing anything. He was simply sitting cross legged on a chimney, watching the man with piercing eyes. It didn't seem to bother Lexaeus, who did not mind company, silent or not. Truly he preferred the talking kind since he was usually the one to stay silent and listen. But he wasn't complaining.

Steadying himself, Lexaeus continued his work, interrupted every once in a while when having to deal with bats, but then moving on.

Sephiroth never stopped watching.

Again we move on, to the library.

"You are having too much fun doing this." Xigbar muttered, looking to Ariel.

"I use to be a maid, remember? So this doesn't bother me." Xigbar rolled his eyes.

"It bothers me." He complained.

"But I chose you to help me because everyone else was busy." Ariel told him, standing amongst piles and piles of books as she cleaned the shelves.

Ariel had taken over cleaning in the Castle Hallow Bastion household, and had taken Xigbar as her assistant. She had wanted Vexen, but Xemnas wanted Vexen to take care of things better suited to his scientific roots. Besides, he would only distract her.

So, here they were in the library, cleaning and dusting.

"Xigbar, I'm putting the books back up, you can vacuum now." Ariel chimed. Muttering under his breath, Xigbar stomped up to the vacuum.

"Might as well put on an apron and a bonnet and lose all my dignity." Xigbar told himself angrily as he plugged the machine in. Ariel shook her head laughing.

A level or two above that, Zexion was working with Xemnas in the laboratory. Broken glass and unknown chemicals littered the floor.

Number six was in deep thought, not even noticing when a piece of glass cut his glove on the tip of his finger. Xemnas noticed the man's distant gaze, and called his name. No response.

"Number six. Number six?" Xemnas called quietly. Finally, the second time, Zexion heard.

"Superior?" He answered.

"Where has your mind been, Zexion? You've seemed… lost, of late." Sighing, Zexion turned away without answering. Xemnas continued working.

"Superior. Number six." Xaldin entered the room, winds following him as the dust that thickly coated the lab floated into the air and followed behind the Whirlwind with the dust he had collected from the rest of the castle. Flinging the window open, Xaldin let all the dust fly outside, and then with a curt nod to the two in the room, left to continue his work.

Zexion stared out the doorway. If he closed his eyes, and imagined a little…

"You're such a dork!" Axel laughed, running past the doorway.

"I am not!" Demyx decreed, laughing and chasing after.

"Hey, wait for me!" Roxas sighed, rushing to catch his friends.

He could hear their laughter in his mind…

"Zexion?" Xemnas questioned again. The man opened his eyes, and the illusions disappeared.

"I find myself wondering about our younger members. How… unusual." He muttered.

And so, we, the authoress and readers, fade away from Castle Hallow Bastion and reappear in a world else where…

"Ugh." He complained, wiping his brow. Readying his key again, Roxas attacked the crates, trying to destroy them with as few swings as possible.

Finally, they were done, and he received his munny. With a polite good bye, Roxas headed out into the Tram Common.

Two children skateboarded past him as he headed towards Sunset Terrace. Roxas was enjoying his vacation, and had a good amount of munny stored up. He was a master of the jobs, having done them in the virtual Twilight Town. Remembering that, he wondered if that lab was still there…

With a shrug, he left the common.

Once at the Terrace, with the sun setting, Roxas sighed happily and leapt onto the Tram. It was a bit too quiet around here sometimes, but it was peaceful.

"Hey, Roxas!"

He thought too soon.

"Good evening, Rikku." Roxas sighed contently, rolling his eyes as the little fairy flew about his head.

"Watch ya doin?" She implored, sitting on his head.

"Going home."

"Really?" She exclaimed. "That's boring!" Roxas laughed as he leapt off the tram, Rikku flying behind.

"Well, I've got to drop off this munny, but after, maybe we can go do something." Roxas offered, sauntering towards his apartment door. He lived in the back corner of the Terrace, near the odd dead end that would sometimes pummel you with balls out of nowhere.

"Like what?" Rikku questioned eagerly.

"Well…" Roxas swung his door open after unlocking it. "Master Yen Sid's been teaching me magic. I have a class today; want to come with me?"

Rikku watched Roxas shift through his apartment; it was decorated but with a few pieces of mundane furniture, and looked as if no one lived there. Roxas placed his munny in a small safe by his bed.

Placing her chin in her head, she pondered. "Well, I guess it's better than waiting around and tending the shop with Auron. He can be so creepy!" Roxas laughed as the two left his apartment and he locked the door.

"Race you to the station?" Roxas challenged. With laughter, the two ran and flew down the trails of beautiful Twilight Town, the sunset reflecting off them…

Once they arrived at the station, Rikku decided to transform and became her usual, human self.

"Let's go! Time's a wasting!" She cheered, rushing in.

After buying tickets, the two walked up to the blue train that would take them to Master Yen Sid.

"Hayner, please, we have homework!"

"Who cares? Seifer's been asking for this!"

"Olette, I think he's too off the deep end to hear you…"

"Oh!"

Roxas turned, startled.

At the corner of the room, by the tracks were three children, one a girl, two boys. And he knew them.

Hayner, Pence, and Olette.

"Roxas? Come on!"

Roxas snapped back to reality, looking to Rikku, who was standing in the door to the train.

"Coming…" He moaned, taking one last look back as he entered the train.

As the train pulled out, we leave Twilight Town…

Demyx hummed to himself as he strode to the gummi hangar, early in the morning on the World that Never Was. He was off to Atlantica, and loved every minute of it.

Swinging his bag into the gummi, Demyx was about to hop in, when…

"Demyx!"

The boy was startled, and had been hanging onto the ship, but fell on his butt when his name was called.

"Ouch…" He complained, rubbing his lower back.

A chuckle came to his ears, and Demyx stood up.

Marluxia was behind him.

"What can I do for you?" Demyx chimed happily, over his fall. Marluxia sighed, rolling his eyes.

"Get me out of here." He seethed, looking back slightly. Demyx cocked his brow in confusion.

"This wouldn't have anything to do with the argument you and Larxene had, would it?" Marluxia gave him an angry look. "Okay, that settles it. The next thing I say could save my life. Oh, what the hell! Come on!" Demyx leapt in, and with a chuckle, Marluxia followed.

As he buckled himself in and the gummi began to lift, Demyx turned to Marluxia.

"So… why are you and Larxene mad?" Marluxia growled. "Hey, don't kill the driver!"

"Don't antagonize the assassin." The pink haired man warned very dangerously.

"Fine, fine." Demyx sighed. The ship flew away, into the sky, towards Atlantica.

Atlantica is a world beneath the waves, were sea creatures speak and mermen rule the oceans. A beautiful realm of music and peace, it was a serene sanctuary.

But it was not void of problems – of heartless.

"Ah!"

Ariel dashed to the ocean floor, dodging two large heartless. Under her breath, she muttered, "It was a lot easier to fight these things when I had Sora's help."

Flounder, a clown fish, swam down to her.

"Ariel! Are you okay?" The mermaid didn't have a chance to respond as the heartless dived upon the two.

It was just then that Demyx and Marluxia arrived under the waves, Demyx seemingly in paradise, Marluxia almost the same way. As Demyx loved the water, Marluxia was drawn to the oceanic plant life.

"Ah! Princess!" Demyx thrust his hand forward, and a surge of water knocked the heartless away. With concern, the nocturne rushed to Ariel's aid.

"Are you alright?" He implored. She nodded.

"Thank you…" Ariel began.

"Demyx." He announced. "I saw you at the palace. I'm the musician Sebastian hired. And this is my friend, Marluxia. He's a gardener."

Leaning away to look behind Demyx, Ariel waved to the pink haired man. "Hello, Marluxia." Turning back to Demyx, she formally introduced herself.

"I'm Ariel, and this is my friend Flounder."

"Hi." Flounder chimed.

Marluxia looked down at his "legs". The man was now a sea creature, a dolphin with a light pink tail. He smiled at the color, and looked to Demyx. Demyx was a shark of some kind, with a dark blue tail. It was hard to maneuver, but if Number nine could get it, he told himself, so could he.

Of course, he wasn't doing well. Marluxia flipped upside down as he tried to swim forward, and then he tried thrusting upward and went face first into the dirt.

"Ah!" Ariel cried, rushing down to him. Marluxia sat up, shaking his head. "Are you okay?"

"Yes, just… disoriented." Demyx snickered. Marluxia threw him a glare.

Ariel smiled. "Demyx, you'd better get to Sebastian, he'll be waiting. I'll help your friend." With a grin and a thumbs up, Demyx left Number 11 to Flounder and Ariel.

Marluxia watched the kid go, and then turned to Ariel.

"Could you, uh… help me with this thing?" He pleaded, looking to his tail. Ariel looked puzzled. Marluxia then bit his tongue. The World Order! They weren't supposed to know he wasn't a merman!

Ariel laughed at the look on Marluxia's face, and the man became confused.

"Don't worry I'll keep it a secret. Does that mean Demyx is human, too? He doesn't seem like it." Marluxia laughed.

"He's very at home in the water." He chuckled.

"You're not." Ariel retorted. "But I'll teach you." Marluxia nodded.

"After… could I perhaps have some of these plants?" Ariel nodded, and Marluxia grinned. Today was looking up.

Returning to the World that Never Was, we find Larxene awake early in the morning, reading in the library.

Huffing, Larxene glared at the pages. Finally, she gave up trying to read and stomped into the kitchen.

Slamming the fridgerator door open, Larxene grabbed a big spoon, opened the ice cream, and took a big scoop, and closed the fridge again, taking the carton and scoop with her to the counter.

That's when she noticed Mitsuka drawing at the table.

"Good morning." The girl chimed. Larxene mumbled a response over her ice cream, diving in. With a sigh, Mitsuka reached across the table and pushed the dessert away.

"We need to talk – girl to girl." Mitsuka demanded. Larxene glared at her and grabbed the ice cream carton, trying to pull it back, but Mitsuka held firm.

"Mine." Larxene demanded. Mitsuka shook her head.

The two girls growled, pulling back and forth on the Rocky Road ice cream. Sneering, the two were locked in the battle.

Only ten minutes later, the two were spread out on the kitchen floor, each with her own spoon, sharing the dessert. When it comes to sweets, women don't last long.

"So, what happened?" Mitsuka asked over a spoonful. Larxene grumbled, and Mitsuka pleaded with her eyes. With a huff, Larxene set the ice cream spoon down and began.

"Well, it started only a little while ago…"