A/N: It's ten in the evening, and here I am, writing this chapter. Damn I'm so slow. A chapter a day. So anyways I finally kicked Seph's butt. Now I'm stuck with something more horrible: that poster job thing in Twilight Town. Why, oh why...

Summary: It's the little things that hurt the most. Between love and duty is a decision he will regret for the rest of his existence.

Disclaimer: I do own Kingdom Hearts and the Final Fantasy franchise. Yeah, I do. I have to go hide now, the feds are after me.

IV: Missing You

It's been a couple of days since Sora vanished into the night, and rumors spread through the Academy like wildfire. Of course, his fanclub got majorly depressed, but they soon forgot about him when they joined forces with Riku's band of groupies (much to his horror) and started a plea to let one of them live with him (and he had to admit: living alone was a pain now that there was no Sora he could annoy). Now a group of those particular girls (the militant arm, he suspected) were following him as he made his way through the Academy's usual dismissal rush hour.

"He's so hot, I swear."

"Too bad Sora went back to Twilight Town, at least, that's what I heard."

"I'm gonna go hunt for him the next time we go there."

"I'd come with you, but I'd rather stay here and try to get Riku (all of them sighed) from that girl Kairi."

"Hah as if you can, oh god, he's looking back!"

Riku glanced over his shoulder just in time to see a gaggle of girls duck (a/n: bloody hell where did I get that?) into a classroom. Twilight Town? Now who came up with that bright story? All he knew was Sora would be anywhere else than Twilight Town, since that would probably drive Roxas berserk. He thought about turning right into the Academy quad, but he had a nagging feeling the posters for the Halloween Dance were already being set up, meaning sometime right now Selphie would be bugging people to be on the Dance Committee. That would be something he'd rather live without. He decided to go straight instead and walk the long (scenic and romantic) corridor to the main gates (and probably be ambushed by girls on the way). He caught the unfamiliar sight of Kairi walking alone.

"Kai!"

She looked over her shoulder and smiled slightly. "Hi Riku."

He jogged up beside her. "You should smile more often. A frown never suited everyone." It was true, and Kairi rarely smiled since Sora disappeared. She just smiled weakly.

A thought suddenly occured to Riku. His best friend, and biggest rival, was gone. He felt himself blush. He glanced around, checking for any rabid fangirls (ever seen a rabid dog? that's how they act whenever they see him and Kairi together.) and sighed.

"Hey...want me to walk with you?" he asked, fiddling with a lock of hair like he always did when he was nervous.

"Mmm... Sorry, Riku, I'd rather... walk home alone," she said quietly. "Maybe next time." she added as she continued walking, leaving him behind.

"He can take care of himself, you know." he suddenly said.

"I know, Riku...but I can't stop worrying," she replied as she stopped walking. "I miss him." Kairi turned around, and Riku saw her eyes start to shimmer with tears again.

"Don't cry, Kairi. He'll come back."

"When he does, Riku, I'll make sure he'll regret doing this to me." she sniffed, and laughed. "Thanks for talking to me. See you tomorrow."

"Bye, princess," he said, making sure Kairi didn't hear the second word. He blushed again as he watched Kairi walk away.

----------

This is weird, Sora thought to himself as he stared up into Twilight Town's sky, which was still, unsurprisingly, twilight, even though he had seen the Gummi Terminal clock read halfway till noon when he left. Roxas had mercifully remained silent (actually, Sora had been quite worried about what had gotten into Roxas) since he had entered the town's Terminal. He knew this town had a Keyhole somewhere. He figured he'd start here, since it seemed the most familiar.

Darn Keyhole, he thought, annoyed. He never knew Twilight Town would be so huge.

"Hey, you! Out of the way!" he jumped as a very irritated postboy slid past him on a skateboard.

Skateboard. I can beat him anytime.

"Roxas, what's up with you? You've been so...quiet." He said, walking around the Town's Station Heights.

The Organization found me here, Sora, and when that bastard DiZ caught me, he erased my memories as an Org member and stuck me in another here so they can get me to merge with you.

"Oh. This is the town where we woke up."

Yeah.

"Maybe I shouldn't have come here. Being back here makes you...miss being just you."

Shut it and just find the stupid Keyhole so we can get out of here sooner.

And with that Roxas stopped the conversation (good thing though, people were starting to stare at Sora talking to himself). He continued to walk around, searching for anything that remotely looked like a Keyhole.

----------

Two hours later, and no luck. He could hear Roxas grumbling (actually more like muttering murderously something about Ansem) in his head, and it was driving him crazy. Again. He had already combed through the main Town (checked and cross-referenced with the 50-munny tourist map) and Sunset Station, fought yet another Struggle battle with that Setzer, dodged a fight with Seifer, hidden from Olette and Twilight Academy's insane independent study, gotten through half a dozen sea-salt popsicles, and about a million photographs from Pence. Sadly, no Keyhole.

Stupid Keyhole.

"You got that right," he said to his Other Side (capitals were so pacifying) as he decided to check out the old mansion on the other side of the woods.

Halfway through the Tram Common raindrops started to fall. He stared up disbelievingly at the twilight sky.

Get used to it.

"I am going to get through this," Sora muttered under his breath as he drew his hood, "without going crazy. Yeah."

He pushed his way through the crowd of people towards the hole in the wall which was the entrance to Twilight Woods (which, up to now, nobody had the brilliant idea to repair the hole and make it a proper door).

"Hey! You in the black hoodie!"

He whipped around, Keyblade coalescing into his clenched fist.

"Roxas! That you?" A female voice called. Sora stared around Tram Common, almost completely deserted because of the now downpour, searching for the owner. A girl of about seventeen (so technically she wasn't a girl anymore, right?) had poked her head out from a window.

"Ro--oh, sorry," she apologized as he came closer. "I thought you were somebody else."

"Obviously."

I know her... I do. I hate DiZ so much right now for erasing my mind.

"Why don't you come in? It's raining hard, you're soaking wet. Drink's on me," she offered before shutting the window.

"What was that?" he said to himself, backing away, and spotting the sign above the window in the process. "7th Heaven Bar and Restaurant," he read aloud. A bar? Who knew Twilight Town had a bar? A nearby door eased open and the said girl beckoned him in.

"Uh... I don't think---"

"It's raining cats and dogs out there. You can't go anywhere if you go down with the flu."

She's got a point. Get sick, and we'll be staying here longer, and I swear, I'll make you regret that. What is wrong with you? Get the hell inside!

"If Kairi knew what I'm doing right now, she'd kill me."

Not if I kill you first.

"You okay?" she asked, peering at him through the rain. He shrugged as he followed her inside.

The 7th Heaven wasn't what Sora had in mind when he thought bar (or maybe Riku had told him too much about the other type of bar). It was like a mix of fancy restaurant and go-ahead-put-your-feet-up café. It was a nice place, as far as he could tell, with the overhead lighting and everything. It looked a lot like the restaurant where he and Kairi had their first date. He sighed.

"So what'll you have?" she asked, getting behind the counter. He chose a random seat in front of the bar and set the Keyblade on the counter.

"Uh..." he stammered (he was doing a lot of uh's lately), scanning among the bottles displayed on the glass cabinet behind her. A bottle of champagne, so much like the King's message bottle, made his heart sink lower. Why did everything have to make him remember Kairi?

Ginger ale.

"I'll have a ginger ale, thanks." He said, wondering what made Roxas say that (and why he ordered what his Other Side wanted). Fiddling with the crown keychain on his Keyblade he watched the girl (ebony black hair with brown highlights on one side, about 5'4", pale white skin, most probably soft and cuddly, nice waist, nice---o-kay, that was Riku talking) fill a glass with his order.

This place's familiar.

"There you go," she said, setting the glass down in front of him. He took a tentative sip.

Man, even the ale's familiar.

"Sorry for earlier," she smiled, unloading a tray of glasses and wiping them down.

"It's okay, really." He gave a start. "You called me Roxas, didn't you?"

"Yeah. You really look a lot like him, um..."

"Sora," he said hastily.

"Rinoa Heartilly. Everyone around here calls me Rin," she introduced herself as she viciously attacked a stubborn glass stain. "I'm the acting owner of this place." She grinned when she saw the confused look Sora knew he had on. "Tifa Lockhart actually owns this bar. She kinda left, said she was going to look for somebody."

"Tifa..." he said softly. Right. She was the one who gave him his Fenrir keychain.

Rin. I know who she is. Just can't grasp who. And so Roxas started ranting on and on about DiZ.

"I know it sounds crazy, but you're like Roxas' twin," Rinoa peered at him again, her eyes narrowing in disbelief. "Chop some hair off and go blonde, there, you're Roxas. You know, he used to sit there, on exactly the same stool."

"Sounds like you know him pretty well," he commented, twirling the straw around his glass absentmindedly.

"He used to come in here with his three friends all the time," she elaborated, now getting started on a particularly complicated zombie glass. "Roxas was the only guy I knew who could get drunk on ginger ale. I didn't even know you could get drunk on ginger ale."

Oh, riiiight. Rin. I knew she always spiked my ginger ale. I'll get her, sneaky girl she is. Roxas, of all the things that he could possibly do as Sora's Nobody (keep it down!), laughed as if fondly recollecting some memory.

"What the hell..?" he said aloud. Luckily Rinoa was too preoccupied with the zombie glass. "Huh?" He shrugged hastily.

"So, Sora, I've never seen you around here. What brings you to Twilight Town?"

He tapped his Keyblade mutely and drained the glass, setting it down with a loud clink. Rinoa raised a well-groomed eyebrow.

"Keyblade business."

"Oh, so that's a Keyblade. Where're you from?"

"Destiny Islands."

"When're you coming back?"

Sora shrugged, knowing that he'll never know for sure if he is coming back.

"Not so talkative, huh?" she laughed, setting the glass down. "You remind me of someone else."

"Yeah, sure, whatever," he squirmed under her gaze, which now just had turned more intense. Was it something he said? Roxas was still laughing, though this time at him. "So... you lived here since..?" he asked, attempting another conversation.

Rinoa cocked her head to one side. " 'bout ten years ago. Kinda moved here."

"Uh, but ten years ago," his brows drew together," I don't think you could've just moved from anywhere else but from Twilight Town itself." That was true, Gummi Ships back then weren't commercially available or anything, due to massive Heartless patrols between Worlds, not to mention a World's protective barrier around itself.

Wrong thing to say.

"Hell," he muttered under his breath, wishing Roxas was still laughing. He looked up from his glass to Rinoa, who was standing still. "Sorry for talking."

"No, no, it's okay, I've been telling that to everyone for years," she sighed and leaned on her elbows. "Just a bit surprised that you would bring it up. You are a Keyblade Master, aren't you? Like Roxas."

"I...I suppose so," he said nervously as Roxas yelled "She knew!" in his head. "You knew Roxas was a Keyblade Master?"

"I didn't know he was a Keyblade Master, but I knew he was... different. Like he was missing something---hey Watts! Don't forget the sign!"

He looked over his shoulder and realized, with a shock, that the restaurant was practically empty. Someone ( that Watts guy, he supposed ) had turned the sign that read Restaurant Closed---Inn Still Open 24/7 outwards. "Man, sorry, you're already closed."

"Oh, actually we're always open, you only have to ask," she said (and Roxas said it along with her, like he had memorized the line or something) as he turned back to face her. "It's an inside secret. Tifa told me that. Sooo... back to Roxas," she continued, picking up Sora's glass and carrying it over to the sink, " the guy who hated the end of summer vacation."

That made Roxas start ranting again, this time about some seven wonders of Twilight Town.

"Wait a minute," Rinoa put a hand on her hip. "It kinda looks like you know Roxas."

"I suppose so." (Not that he supposed so, he more than knew Roxas, he was his Nobody, but he'd rather Rinoa thought him sane than tell him Roxas' currently residing in his head.)

"Oh well. When you see him again tell him to come back here. He won't believe what happened. It's like, poof, everyone around here forgot he even existed. (His Other Side suddenly stopped ranting, which was a bare relief.) I tried asking Hayner, Pence, and Olette, the three guys he used to be with, and they look at me like I've gone insane or something. Who's Roxas? they ask me. I should be the one to ask them whether they're crazy. I know Roxas lived here. You don't believe me, don't you?"

Sora shook his head vehemently (partly in answer to Rinoa's question, and partly to clear his head of Roxas' thoughts) and stared at her, who started fiddling with a ribbed sky blue armband. "I've heard stranger things. I believe you."

"Well, you are a Keyblade Master after all." She sighed, picking another glass to clean.

That was another missing fragment of his Other Side's shattered memory. So Ansem the Wise sacrificed Roxas so he, Sora, could awaken. He did read the Secret Ansem Report, but he really didn't think someone pictured as so benevolent would even think of hurting someone, let alone erase someone's existence.

Benevolent? Hah. Man, I miss being here.

"So... you still hadn't answered me, Rin, about where you came from," he said, now tracing circles around the keychain.

Curiousity killed the cat.

"Um..."

"You don't have to tell me if you don't want to, " he added hastily.

"No, it's okay," Rinoa replied. "I guess you've heard my story a million times before. Heartless tore my homeworld apart ten years ago. Suddenly this witch Maleficent popped out of nowhere, bringing her army of those horrible Heartless to the Garden. The world's heart was taken, and us citizens were either turned into one of them or flung out. Last thing I remember was her changing Radiant Garden to Hollow Bastion. Then the next thing I knew, me and Tifa woke up here in Twilight Town. We've been here ever since."

"Well, that's nothing to worry about," he mused. "Maleficent's, well, disposed of. I sure hope nobody brings her back this time."

Her eyes widened. "You've been to Hollow Bastion!" she whispered weakly.

"It's called Radiant Garden now, ever since Tron got control of the town's computer system back."

She was gripping the glass in her hand so tightly her knuckles were white. "Oh, Hyne," she was muttering softly.

"Oh yeah, that's where we met Tifa. She gave me this." he took out his Fenrir keychain. "Really strong girl, pretty hard to beat."

"Did...did she find Cloud?" she managed to say.

Sora nodded. "Kind of... him and Sephiroth disappeared somewhere, and left her standing. She's off to find him again. Light is easy to find, she said."

"Sephiroth...oh Cloud brought him back again," Rinoa gave a start. "So Cloud's alive!" she clapped her hand (and the dirty rag with it) to her mouth and giggled. "Sorry, stupid question." Her eyes widened again. "Any chance you've met a Yuffie Kisaragi there?"

"Grand Ninja Yuffie? Perky, hyper ninja with huge shuriken?"

"Merlin?"

"Yeah."

Her voice wavered. "Cid?"

"The cursing mechanic? I've been on his wrong side," he answered, recalling the instance when he butted heads with the temperamental tobacco-chewing pilot. (That involved a whole lot of cursing, some he had never even thought of before.)

"Aerith?"

"She's scary." (When she stared, everyone quailed, even Leon.) "Hey, Rin... don't break down like that (which, effectively, made her cry even harder)."

Idiot. You're an idiot with girls, Roxas was laughing.

"Shut it," Sora muttered angrily at his Other Side (yes, never forget the capitals) as he tried to figure out Rinoa.

"Sorry," she said. "I...I just thought everyone was dead... oh, I'm so happy..." She trained her big brown eyes on him.

"Squall?"

"Huh?" he racked his brain, but as far as he could remember, he'd never met a Squall before. "I don't think I've---Rin!"

The glass that she was holding had shattered, sending shards (good thing he had cast a well-timed Reflectga) flying, which miraculously missed her.

"Oh Hyne I'm so sorry," she sobbed as she turned, her hands fanning her face, to the nearby sink, her back to him. He watched as she splashed water on her face (it sounded like it) over and over again. It looked like she was trying to drown herself.

"Rin..oa?" he ventured uneasily (as Roxas had said so eloquently before, he was an idiot when it came to girls crying, that he admitted.), trying to get her to stop. Those wings, he thought to himself as he noticed the pair of white wings embroidered on her back, I've seen those before. "Uh, Rinoa, are you talking about Leon?" he asked, remembering Leon had a pair of similar wings on the back of his leather jacket (and he kind of wondered why someone like Leon would have that as a design).

The water stopped running, to his relief. "Leon?"

"There's this guy who--"

"Oh riiight. Squall Leonhart..."

"Huh?"

"His real name's Squall Leonhart..." she said dreamily, turning to him (and water dripping down her chest---next time, he'll never listen to Riku) and setting her elbows on the table (was it just him or did the shards of glass move?). "Leon...why would he change his name...?"

"Why don't you go to Radiant Garden and ask him yourself?" he suggested, seeing that Rinoa would want not only to ask.

She snapped out of her dreaminess and shook her head slowly. "I can't."

"Why not? The Terminal's just across Central Station. You could leave the bar to someone."

"I can't go back." She bit her lip. "I'm exiled from Radiant Garden."

Whoa. Exiled.

Sora, for once, agreed with Roxas' thoughts.

Rinoa smiled bitterly at his bewildered face. "Ever heard of the Sorceress War? (Sora, at this point, nodded weakly, he never did pay much attention to Worlds' History) Well, that was exactly why I'm exiled."

"You're a sorceress!"

"Yeah. My own father exiled me because Ansem the Wise told him to. The townspeople were afraid of what I might do. They even blamed me, thinking I was in cahoots with Maleficent. I didn't do anything like that. Ansem wasn't so wise when he ordered my father to give up his only daughter. I hated him for that."

She's not the only one who hates Ansem.

"Sad."

"They told me it was for the greater good, and that it would be better for me. Dad told me he's sending me away because he loves me and doesn't want me to get hurt... Well, I went along with it, smiling all the way, pretending it was all okay..." she sighed, "but deep down, it hurt so much..."

I won't stand putting you in harm's way. If the other Keyholes out there are sealed, then you--and the others will be safe.

I don't think that's best for me, Sora. For us.

"Sora..? Hey!"

"Wha..?" he jerked back from Rinoa, who was waving a hand in front of his face.

"Spaced out, huh? No wonder, it's getting pretty late."

He looked over his shoulder, and, not surprisingly, it was still twilight.

"It's always twilight here," She said, seeing his surprise. "Why don't you stay for the night? Our rate's pretty reasonable, it's only 100 munny a night."

"Sure. Thanks."

Sure...thanks a lot.

---------

So there. Chapter 4. Review. Please.

Okay, I'm gonna go post posters now.