Authors Note: Here's chapter ten. I hope you all enjoy this chapter. Any reviews are welcome; I'd love to hear what you think :D

Thanks a bunch Mystics Apprentice!

Chapter Ten: Ice Cream Atop the Clock Tower

I sat up and yawned. Bright rays of sunlight poured onto my face from an open window beside my bed. For one of the first times in my life I actually had a good dream, one that hadn't been involved with Heartless or memories that weren't my own.

I stretched before crawling across my bed and looking out the window. Outside the sun was rising, with only a few puffy clouds in sight. It was nice to be able to see the sun again. In most places I had stayed you either couldn't see it or it was always dark out. The World that Never Was looked as though it were locked in endless night, whereas in the world that Xehanort lived in, thick clouds and swirling mist made it impossible to see.

Out of all the countless times I had seen a sunset, I had actually never witnessed the sun rising. Now I was, though. It looked an awful lot like a sunset, only different somehow. I wondered if Roxas had ever seen one. I was quite sure that Axel had, considering he had all of his memories and had once lived in a different world. "What are they both doing right now?" I wondered. "Are either of them still alive?"

I loved the way that a sunrise or set looked. It was so pretty. Axel had been the one who had told me why a sunset was red, saying that, out of all the colors, red is the one that travels the farthest.

I sat and watched it for quite sometime, basically till it had fully risen. I then leaned over the side of my bed to grab my bag. I opened it and began rummaging through it, wondering which outfit should I wear for the day?

I chose one and put it on, which consisted mostly of a dark marigold. The top was a long shirt, almost long enough to be a dress. With slightly puffy sleeves, the cuffs were gray and tight upon my wrists. Across the front of the shirt were crisscrossing gray straps that stretched from my shoulders to my middle. Another set of straps crisscrossed right below. Wait a sec…

I re-opened the bag and peered inside. All of the outfits that Xehanort picked had those same straps. I wondered if they were supposed to form an X. It did sort of look like it.

Over my hands I wore a pair of gloves of the same shade of yellow. And on my legs I wore leggings to match my shirt and gloves. Lastly, on my feet I had a pair of gray boots, which came to about the same height as my Organization boots.

Sitting on my bed and staring at a blank wall left me to ponder all of the unpleasant thoughts going through my head. After awhile I picked up the bag once more, reaching into its depths to see what else Xehanort had put inside it. Almost immediately I pulled out a hairbrush. I stared at it for a moment, and then decided that I might as well put it to good use. Since my hair was short, it never got very tangled, so I pretty much just needed to brush straight through it once or twice.

I went over and sat by the window again, staring out at the now fairly busy streets. Below I noticed two people who looked oddly familiar. I frowned; one of them was quite young, with steel-colored hair and bangs that fell heavily into his face. The other was a much older person, who was probably at least in his forties. He had long platinum-blond hair of which fell a little ways passed his shoulders.

Had I met them before? I knew for a fact that I had never met a young boy with steel-colored hair…I think I had met a much older person with the same shade of hair, though. As for the elder of the two, he was a scientist within the Organization. Let me think…

I know! The boy's name had been Zexion—I think. And as for the other one, he was…Vexen. That's right. They had been in the Organization at the same time as me. Though I couldn't remember them very well, really.

I had made up my mind, I was going to go down and speak to them, even if I didn't really know them and they couldn't remember me in this time period. I was curious to know what they were like before they became Nobodies.

I walked down the hall, pausing briefly to look back at Vanitas's door. It didn't sound like he had gotten up yet, so I continued on my way. I walked down the stairs and then towards the front door, lifting my hand to grab the doorknob.

I looked around, trying to pinpoint where my room had been in relation to the building so I could find the two that I had seen out my window. Figuring that I needed to head left, I began walking around the side of the building. In accordance with the front door's location, they had to be somewhere behind it.

There they were, standing about where I had seen them out my window. It looked like the man could've been scolding the steel-haired boy, since he was speaking fast and animatedly moving his hands about. As I drew closer to them, the boy turned around and looked at me. He studied me silently with an unnerving serene gaze. I smiled at him and continued to walk over. After a moment had passed, the boy returned it. This caused the blond man to scowl and glance back at whoever had interrupted his speech. He met my eye, and his scowl only deepened.

"Hello, can I help you?" the man asked, glaring at me.

I thought about how to answer this for a moment. What had I been intending to say to them? I mean, they obviously didn't remember who I was; this was long before my time, even before the Organization's.

"Umm, I was just…" I trailed off, my gaze falling to the ground. "I—never mind." Upon saying this, I turned around and began to walk away.

"Wait."

I paused, glancing back over my shoulder at the young boy. He had taken a couple of steps towards me.

"You're...not from around here, are you?" the boy asked, looking at me with that same searching gaze which left me with the feeling that he could read my mind. Which obviously wasn't a possibility.

The older man, Vexen, looked at me, his emerald green eyes lighting up.

"Well…no, I'm not," I replied.

"I didn't think so," the boy agreed. "Are you from another world?"

I opened my mouth to speak, but then thought better of it. At this point in time I wasn't sure if it was such a good idea to tell him the truth. I mean, in the Organization I had been strictly informed not to tell anyone that. And, deep within a memory that wasn't mine, I remembered someone else being told that, too.

"Well? Are you, or are you not?" Vexen inquired impatiently.

"Yes, I am," I answered after a moment. I wasn't in the Organization anymore, and they both seemed to know that other worlds existed.

"What is it called?" the boy, Zexion, asked.

I hesitated for a moment. "The World that Never Was."

"It sounds neat," Zexion said, smiling again. "What is it like?"

"Well, it isn't that cool," I began. How could I best describe The World that Never Was? Besides a strange dark place surrounded by tall buildings where you could see a funny shape in the sky called Kingdom Hearts. "There are a lot of really tall buildings, and it's always dark out. You can never see the sun. And there's a different kind of thing in the sky in place of the moon…"

Zexion was looking at me, clearly intrigued. I glanced at the man who stood beside him. I didn't really want to tell them about Kingdom Hearts. I didn't know them very well. But I did know that they had been senior members of the Organization; maybe they would both try to get its power now. I really didn't want to make that happen.

"Your world sounds neat," Zexion told me. "Very different from here. What is your name?"

It couldn't hurt to tell him that. "My name is Xion. And you?"

"Ienzo," he responded.

"It's nice to meet you, Ienzo." I walked up to him and held out a hand. Ienzo smiled, and shook it.

"It's nice to meet you, too," he replied. He then glanced back at his guardian. "His name is Even. He takes care of me."

I looked over at Even. So those were their names before they had come to the Organization. They both seemed fairly nice, not necessarily normal, though. Even was glaring around the surrounding area and kept glancing at a watch every couple of seconds. Ienzo had that serious gaze, one that made it hard to look away.

"Well, we really must be going now," Even said, placing a hand on top of the young boy's shoulder and attempting to steer him away. "Come on now, Ienzo."

"Well, I guess I'll see you later, Ienzo," I told him, smiling. "It was really nice meeting you."

"Yes, you too," Ienzo replied, waving back at me. "I hope to see you again."

I watched them walk away, letting out a sigh. What had I really been planning to ask them? They obviously wouldn't know anything about the Organization yet. I let out a sigh. I guess I had just hoped they might've had some answers for me.

"Xion?"

I looked up in surprise as someone put a hand on my shoulder; it was Vanitas. He was very good at sneaking up on people. I had lost track of how many times he had managed to walk up without me even noticing!

Vanitas wore a slightly worried expression on his face.

"You're not still worried about what Eraqus said, are you?" he inquired. "Seriously, that man is up to no good. Don't trust anything he might tell you."

I nodded. "I know."

I glanced up at him, hoping the uncertainty I felt didn't show in my eyes. It must have though, since Vanitas still appeared unsure.

"Alright then, are you hungry?" Vanitas's gaze slid along the other many buildings around the square we were in. "That restaurant over there looks like a decent place to go eat at."

"Umm, a little," I responded. "That sounds good."

We both headed over to the restaurant. It did look like a nice place, at least from the outside.

Vanitas pulled open the door. I let out a gasp in surprise; the place was cram-packed with all kinds of people! An explosion of noise had hit us once he'd opened the door. Vanitas slowly stepped in and I followed, not wanting to lose sight of him.

I was being jostled from every direction. I wanted to bring my hands up to my ears in order to block out some of the noise, but then thought better of it.

I tugged on Vanitas's sleeve, doubting that he would be able to hear me even if I yelled.

He turned to look at me. "What is it?"

"Should we go somewhere else?" I hollered. There was probably no way that we could get a seat in there. Was everyone at this particular restaurant right now? I mean, that would be crazy, but it seemed like it.

Vanitas nodded, and we both began backtracking to the door. Just as we finally reached it, however, a loud trumpet sounded. This time I really did cover my ears; it was all just too loud!

Vanitas spun in a circle and glared at the many people now pushing to get past us to the door.

"What is going on?" Vanitas demanded, addressing the room at large.

An elderly man paused and smiled at him. "Don't you already know?"

"No, I don't! Would you kindly like to tell me?" Vanitas went on, clearly unhappy.

"Today's Lord Ansem's birthday!" the man exclaimed. "There's going to be a large parade! And a party at the palace, which most anyone is allowed to attend. I'm sure you both would be permitted. It's going to be a wonderful day! You two be sure to enjoy yourselves now!"

With that the man left, shutting the door behind him.

Now that most everyone was gone, the room was much more silent. The last of the people pushed their way out the door.

Beside me I heard Vanitas let out a groan. He was standing with a hand over his face.

"Why did I choose to come to this day in time?" Vanitas asked himself. "Now we're not going to be able to find a quiet place to leave this world until later!"

"Oh," I muttered quietly. Then an idea struck me. "Hey, Vanitas? They're having a party at their king's palace right?"

Vanitas nodded, a look of dawning lighting his face. "So, we should go and check out this 'Lord Ansem's' palace then?"

With that, we left the building and began making our way through the crowded streets. When we rounded a corner and were just about to walk through another street, a parade began moving right in front of us. My companion and I both halted and watched its slow procession through the wide street before us.

It was fun to watch, and many people around us were laughing and pointing at different parts of it as it passed. They laughed especially hard at a clown doing silly things. One made me crack a grin as well.

After the parade had passed, Vanitas and I continued on our way. We walked for quite some ways before Vanitas came to a halt again, not to far from a concession stand.

"Ah, some food! Are you still hungry?" Vanitas asked me. I nodded as we walked up to it.

We both bought some food and chocolate milkshakes. The milkshake was delicious; almost as good as sea-salt ice cream! Vanitas walked over to a bench, where we sat down and watched the parade make its way down a street nearby.

I took a sip of my milkshake, and then glanced at my companion. "When do you think the party at the castle starts?"

"No idea," Vanitas responded, also watching the parade. "Probably sometime in the late afternoon would be my guess."

I nodded. That was kind of what I had figured as well. But was there really any chance that our book would even be in this world? But then in the back of my mind I didn't even want to find it anymore.

…

I held my breath as Vanitas and I walked up to Ansem's castle. For some reason I was nervous to step inside. I wasn't even sure why. I just didn't like the sound of the name Ansem; it made me think of a Heartless. I shook my head to clear it. That didn't make any sense at all.

"Let's go," Vanitas said, striding towards the double doors of the castle.

I followed him and we both stepped inside. Before us was a long hall, lit with several chandeliers hanging down from the ceiling.

Happy chatter filled the hall we were in as Vanitas and I began walking down it.

"Xion?"

I turned around to see who had said my name. I smiled once I had found the source.

"Hi, Ienzo," I said, watching the steel-haired boy as he approached. "Did you have much fun at the festival?"

Ienzo shrugged his shoulders. "Kind of."

Vanitas walked up and looked at Ienzo. "Who is this kid?"

"My name's Ienzo," he told Vanitas, a slight frown furrowing his eyebrows. "Who are you?"

"Vanitas," he responded. "Come on, Xion, let's go."

"Oh, okay. Good-bye, Ienzo," I said to the young boy as we both walked away. I paused before I'd moved even ten paces. "Hey wait, do you know if Lord Ansem keeps any really old, strange books here?"

"Quite a few," Ienzo responded, a slightly funny expression upon his face. "Do you need one?"

I nodded. "Yes, we've lost one."

"Lord Ansem might let you look through his library," Ienzo told me, wearing a thoughtful expression.

"Hmph, you seem to know this king well," Vanitas muttered quietly.

"Yes, he helps Professor Even watch over me sometimes," Ienzo explained.

"Thanks, kid," Vanitas said. He then turned and began walking away once again. I followed him, smiling back at Ienzo.

We walked off and around another corridor. I let Vanitas lead, since I didn't know which way we should look first. Vanitas paused in front of a small door and pulled it open. From there we walked up some stairs.

Upon reaching the top we stepped through another doorway leading into a long hall. Vanitas then began randomly opening doors, poking his head into each one to see if it held what he was looking for. Finally we stepped into an enormous room, with a large canopy bed and bay windows with thick silk curtains held back with a matching band. I began to feel a little uneasy; was this the king's room? I didn't want to trespass through his personal belongings.

I glanced over at Vanitas as he strode over to a few large bookshelves on the far side of the room. As expected, my companion began pulling out books one by one. At least he didn't dump them all out, though. Letting out a resigned sigh, I walked over and began helping him.

…

I plopped down in a chair next to one of the shelves with all the books. It didn't look like our book was there. Vanitas and I had successfully accomplished looking through all the shelves, but the book we sought was not among them. I watched as Vanitas placed the last book he had been looking through back on its shelf. He then stepped back, raising a hand to his chin. He looked a bit frustrated, and I couldn't blame him; I was a bit frustrated myself. Now I knew what Axel had meant about trying to find a needle in a haystack.

I brought my knees up under my chin and sat rocking back and forth, waiting to see what Vanitas planed to do next. As I watched him, I noticed someone poke their head into the room. The man looked to be middle-aged. He had long black hair that was tied back in a ponytail, and he was wearing a deep scowl. Uh oh, that couldn't be good.

"What are you doing in here?" he demanded, stepping in and brandishing a spear at us. From behind him I noticed another man walk in, this one had short hair of a reddish brown color. I recognized them as two members of Organization XIII.

I went over to stand beside Vanitas as he pulled out his Keyblade. I chose not to do the same, however, as I wasn't sure if it was such a good idea to fight when we were trespassing on someone else's property.

"What do we have here?" the man asked again, glaring at Vanitas. "Trespassers? Within Lord Ansem's room?"

"Well we—" I began, but Vanitas cut me off.

"No one told us that we shouldn't go in here!" Vanitas yelled, directing his Keyblade at the man.

The other man scowled and pointed at the door. "It says so on the door."

I glanced at it, not sure what to say. "We didn't take anything… We—we were just looking."

"Either way, you're leaving…right now." The man with ebony-colored hair strode forward, gripping me by the upper arm and dragging me forcibly to the door.

"You let go of her!" Vanitas yelled, making a motion to attack him. However, before he could do so, the other man twirled his spear in the air so that it wouldn't do any permanent damage to Vanitas, and brought it down hard over my companion's head.

I winced as Vanitas let out a soft moan and fell to the ground, his Keyblade first clanking to the floor before disappearing beside him. That looked like it had hurt.

"Would you like to come quietly, miss?" the man with the black hair asked, a twisted smile planted upon his face. Xaldin, I think his name was. "Or shall I have to do the same to you?"

"I'll come," I replied quickly. There was no point in having them drag me from the room.

We descended the castle and left out of the large double doors. The taller of the two men, the one with reddish brown hair, had Vanitas slung over his shoulder. We continued down the vacant streets until a bench loomed into view. Vanitas was put down roughly upon the hard seat. Then the other man released my arm. They both stepped back, both glaring daggers at me.

"Be sure we don't see you around the castle again," Xaldin (or at least I think that's his name) told me.

I nodded quickly. "Don't worry, we won't go back there. I promise."

Xaldin nodded, taking my word for it. He and the other person turned and began walking away.

I watched them until they were gone from sight. I let out a sigh and plopped down on the bench by Vanitas's feet. Going into their king's room had certainly been a good idea.

I looked at Vanitas, who was still knocked out cold. I would just wait for him to wake up and see where he thought we should go next.

"Well, it appears as though you are both having quite a hard time."

I jumped in surprise and looked over my shoulder. "Master Xehanort! What are you doing here?"

Xehanort walked around the bench, glancing briefly at Vanitas as he went. Once in front of me, he let out an exhausted sigh.

"Well, I had to make a rather quick exit," Master Xehanort told me, as Vanitas let out a soft moan, rubbing his head. "Why hello, Vanitas."

Vanitas looked around in confusion. "Master Xehanort? What? Oh…"

"As I was saying," Xehanort continued. "I was found by our enemies, so I had to take Kairi and leave."

"As in Eraqus?" I asked. I was still wondering if Eraqus had been right about Xehanort. The old Keyblade Master was acting a little fishy.

The elderly Keyblade Master turned around to look at me, his eyebrows furrowing suspiciously. "Ah, so you've met Eraqus."

Vanitas stood up. "Yeah, he was trying to cause trouble, as always."

"I see…" Xehanort turned back around, folding his hands behind his back. "That man just doesn't understand what it is we're trying to do! I wish he would… There was a time when he and I were quite close. Almost like brothers, you might say!"

Vanitas walked past his master and stood there, his arms crossed with his back to us.

"So, where is it you two have gone?" Vanitas inquired, without turning around.

"We are staying in your time era, Vanitas. In the Enchanted Dominion." Xehanort informed us. "I trust you have not found the book yet?"

I shook my head. I wasn't sure if we were ever going to find it at this rate, though I didn't say so.

"Well, good luck," Xehanort said. He began to walk away, back in the direction he had come. "I hope you find it soon…before others do."

A moment later he had gone through a portal, leaving no trace that he had been there.

I glanced at Vanitas, who hadn't moved. It was getting late. Even though I had no idea where the book was, there was one place that I wanted to go to. I stood up and walked over to Vanitas. He turned to face me.

"Well? Where do you think we should try next?" he asked, tilting his head to the side.

"Let's go back to Twilight Town," I suggested. Had Vanitas ever had sea-salt ice cream before? I somewhat doubted it.

"Fine," Vanitas agreed, opening up a portal. I threw my coat over my outfit, leaving my black gloves and boots off, though. I was already wearing a pair of each, but I wanted some protection from the darkness. We both stepped into the portal; back into those confusing dark passages.

…

We stepped out into Twilight Town. For once the sky in this world resembled all those from other worlds, because the sun was going down in all of them. I glanced towards the clock tower, then back over at Vanitas. I was slightly uncertain about asking what I was about to.

"Hey, Vanitas?" I began. "Do you want to eat some ice cream?"

"Huh?" he asked, looking somewhat surprised. "I—I guess…"

"Okay!" Without waiting for him to say anything else I ran off, towards the place they sold sea-salt ice cream.

I quickly bought two bars before dashing back to where I had left Vanitas standing. He was still there, except his back was to me now as he watched the setting sun.

"Here," I said holding the ice cream out to him, which he took. "Let's go to the top of the clock tower."

He glanced towards the top, again looking surprised. "Oh…alright."

I walked off towards the building; upon reaching it I pulled the door open, we then walked up the many flights of stairs to get to the top.

At last I pulled the door open, allowing Vanitas to step through. Stepping over to the edge, I sat down. It was the same place that Roxas, Axel and I always ate our ice cream.

Vanitas slowly sat down beside me, taking the wrapper off of his ice cream as he did so. I did the same and then took a bite.

"Have you had ice cream up here before?" Vanitas inquired curiously.

"Yeah, I used to come up here with my best friends," I told him. I smiled. "Roxas told me that's what friends do—they have ice cream together."

Vanitas looked down at his ice cream, wearing a very serious expression as he slowly took a bite of it.

"…Does that mean—we're friends?" he asked after a moment, staring at his ice cream as though he could see through it.

I watched him for a moment before smiling. "Yeah, I think so."

Vanitas looked up, and our eyes met. He smiled as well, a real true smile. That was the first time I had really seen a genuine smile coming from him.

"I—I've never actually had a friend before," he said after a moment. A saddened expression darkened his face.

"Really?" I asked in surprise. He nodded. "I'm sorry."

I looked at him, tilting my head to one side. I couldn't quite imagine never having any friends, nor could I imagine how lonely that would make someone feel.

"Thanks, Xion," he said after a moment of silence, "for being my friend."

As I watched Vanitas sitting there and eating his ice cream, I felt happy; he really wasn't so bad. I actually enjoyed his company. Now I realized that I really did think of him as a friend, and that made me happy. And from the looks of it, it made Vanitas pretty happy as well.

"You're welcome."