Chapter 27: Kicking away the night air (www . youtube . com/watch?v=k4dZZt1JSf4)

Memo: WAAAH!! XD I...I don't even know what to say. This is...the beginning of the end, that much I can say. If you haven't heard it already, you really should check out the song "night air" by Teddy Geiger. It's incredible. :3

Nexus' PoV

"Good morning," I murmured as Sora opened his eyes at last. He looked fairly well-rested, or at least a lot more well-rested than me. "Where are we going today?"

"Twilight Town," he said through a yawn. He propped himself up, then sat upright, stretching his legs. "How are you feeling?"

"I'm okay," I replied, not wanting him to worry. Truthfully, I probably only got two hours of sleep at the most. "Don't worry about me."

"How can you say that?" Sora said, frowning. "Yesterday I thought you were going to die."

"I was going to die," I said.

"But...I don't understand." He looked at me, narrowing his eyes in confusion. "Who are you? What are you?"

"...I don't really know, either." I sighed, sitting cross-legged on my bed. "I just know...I'm not supposed to exist. There's another me. Like a Nobody, but not as independent. She and I can't be in existence at the same time. At some point, quite a few years ago, she and I switched--I mean, I was around and she wasn't. But yesterday, she tried to come back. She means to kill me."

"So...your other self was trying to kill herself?" Sora asked, looking even more confused.

"Yeah, that's the best way I can explain it," I replied, smirking. "If she can't exist, she doesn't want me around, either."

"I see."

"Don't act like you understand," I said with a laugh. "You're totally confused, I can tell."

Sora grinned sheepishly.

"I'll understand one day, maybe," he said, standing.

"I'll bet on that."

.........

Somehow, today seems really final, I thought, looking up at the ceiling of the train station. I mean, two Twilight Towns? And the World That Never Was finally showed up on our map. This is going to be dangerous...

"Hey! I think we're almost there!" Goofy exclaimed cheerfully, causing the rest of us to stare at him.

"Huh?" Sora said.

"What?" Donald said.

"Gawrsh, aren't we here because of the picture?" Goofy asked.

"Oh, that's right," I mumbled as he pulled out the photo. "You told me about this."

"Look, I'll show ya!" he said, holding it out in front of us.

"Yeah! Goofy's right!" Donald exclaimed after glancing at the picture.

"C'mon, let's go find this mansion!" Goofy cried.

"Yeah!" Sora agreed, beaming.

He has no idea about Roxas, I thought, wanting to laugh. Pity.

*~*~*

Sora and the others dashed off through Twilight Town, each of them trying to remember the way back into the woods. Eventually they found the hole in the wall, and they passed through, not realizing that the most difficult part of their journey was just ahead.

When they finally got to the mansion, Sora was surprised to see three people lying outside of it. He recognized the first one to be Hayner, so he assumed Pence and Olette were the other two.

"Hey, are you all right?" Sora shouted, running to Hayner's side. Hayner began to push himself up, then stopped. "What happened?"

"We came here looking for Kairi," Hayner replied. "Then those white things attacked us..."

"You gotta be careful!" Donald told him as Goofy helped Pence and Nexus helped Olette.

"Yeah, you guys didn't have to go and do that," Sora told the blonde, who scowled.

"Of course we did," he muttered. "Kairi's our friend, too, ya know."

"You're right..." Sora murmured, helping Hayner up. "You know, I never thought of it like that before."

"Word is, this mansion gets a lot of really strange visitors," the blonde said, glancing at said mansion.

"We thought this place might be the gateway to some kind of alternate Twilight Town," Olette added.

Nexus and Sora looked at each other in disbelief.

"What do you mean, alternate Twilight Town?" Sora gasped.

"Hey, Goofy, do you think we could see that crystal of yours?" Pence asked. Goofy nodded, pulling the munny pouch out of his pocket, and then the blue crystal out of the pouch.

"I made that pouch myself, and I still have it," Olette told them. "So there shouldn't be two of them here."

Hayner nodded, pulling out the Struggle Tournament Trophy. "And this is the trophy Seifer gave you. You left it behind, remember?"

"It's the only one of its kind," Pence explained. "Same for the crystals--red, blue, yellow, green--only one of each color. But you've got your own!"

"So...where'd you get it?" Hayner asked in a slightly accusatory tone. Sora frowned, thinking back.

"The pouch is from the King," Goofy finally answered. "When he gave us munny for the train ride, he gave us the crystal too."

"But then...where did the KING get it?" Pence asked, bewildered.

"See?" Hayner cried. "There's gotta be another town out there like this one. That would explain how the King got that pouch and the crystal. Everything makes sense."

Sora and his friends exchanged confused looks, not quite buying the idea.

"It...does?" Sora said slowly.

"That other town must be where whatever's missing from here went!" Pence exclaimed.

"Like Kairi," Olette agreed.

"I get it!" Sora exclaimed.

"Only because she mentioned Kairi," Nexus teased. Sora shot her a look, then suddenly a flash of white caught his attention. Dusks had just materialized before them. But before anyone could make a move, a blur of red, gold, silver, and black swooped down, cutting apart a few of the Dusks.

"The King!" Nexus cried. "How convenient."

"Watch out!" the King warned them. They nodded, preparing to battle alongside him once again.

.........

"I got somethin' to tell ya," the King said the moment after the Nobodies were vanquished. His keyblade disappeared in a hurry. "I found out where Ansem is--Ansem the Wise! The real Ansem! He snuck into Organization XIII's stronghold."

"He would," Nexus muttered, sighing.

"And we've figured out where Kairi is!" Sora cried. "I'm pretty sure we're right."

"But why'd you all come here?" the King asked.

"Someone gave us a clue."

"Who?"

"Well, Your Majesty, Sora thinks it might been Riku," Goofy answered.

"It's just a feeling I had," Sora said, shrugging.

"Well, if that's what ya think, then it's probably right," the King said, smiling.

"You mean Riku's okay!" Sora exclaimed, grinning.

"If that's what ya think..."

Sora frowned deeply, crossing his arms.

"I've waited long enough, Your Majesty!" he snapped. "Tell me what you know!"

"It's not for me to say."

"But Your Majesty! Why?" Sora was getting desperate for the truth. He was so close...

"I don't wanna break my promise," the King replied.

"You made a promise to Riku!?" The King slapped his hands over his mouth as Sora cheered. "So he's okay! I can see him again!"

"Huh? Who's Riku?" Hayner asked.

"My best friend," Sora replied proudly. Nexus smiled, shaking her head slowly. It was a wonder Riku stayed friends with someone so dense.

"That's IT!" Pence cried.

"Your Majesty?" Olette said, crouching down to the King's level. "You got the pouch with the crystal from Riku, didn't you? And you promised not to tell, right?"

"Gosh, guys..." the King said, defeated.

"That's enough!" Donald quacked angrily, tired of people bugging the King.

"Yeah," Sora said, even though he was the main culprit. "Let's go!" He turned to face the mansion, a determined look on his face. "Kairi! Riku! We're on our way!"

Nexus' PoV

We entered the mansion's foyer, and I sighed. We started out here, and now we were ending here. Well, until we broke into the World That Never Was...

"There's gotta be a computer somewhere," the King said, looking around.

"A computer..." Pence echoed. "Do you think it's connected to that other Twilight Town?"

"It might be," His Majesty replied. "And there should be a way into the Realm of Darkness there." There, as in the alternate Twilight Town? Which made sense. After all, the other Twilight Town was where Roxas had been.

"Riku told you that, didn't he!?" Sora said, suddenly springing to life.

"Please, Sora. I made a promise." The King turned away.

"Aha! I knew it!" Sora said, crossing his arms in triumph. He was really starting to get annoying.

"Hey! Stop pestering the King!" Donald snapped, and Sora slumped, guilty as charged.

"Right. Sorry..."

"Let's split up," I suggested. "Your Majesty, will you go with me?"

"Sure, Nexus!" he said, smiling, relieved to be away from Sora. I was thinking the same thing.

We started our search in the parlor room, which was pretty much in shambles.

"Your Majesty, I know where the computer is," I admitted.

"I do, too. But Sora needs to find these things out for himself," he said.

"Yeah, like with Roxas."

"Exactly."

It was quiet for a minute, then I sighed.

"Your Majesty, something really terrible happened yesterday within me," I told him as I stared at the broken table. "My soul is being torn apart. I really don't know how much longer I'll be with Sora."

"Gosh, Nexus, you can't go down that easily, can you?" he asked with a small smile. I smiled back.

"I wish that was the case. But...I am my own worst enemy..."

.........

After talking a while longer, the King and I meandered to the computer room, bringing the others with us on the way.

"There!" the King exclaimed, pointing.

"We found it!" Sora cheered. I sighed. What a kid.

"How does it work?" Donald asked in wonder.

"I can handle it," Pence said, walking over to the computer like it was nothing. Huh, the kid was a nerd. Why was I surprised? There's one in every teenage clique.

Anyway, Pence sat down at the computer and began pushing buttons like it was his job.

"Okay..." he muttered, talking to himself. "Here we go..." A screen popped up. "Ah!"

"What's wrong?" Hayner asked quickly, worried.

Pence sighed. "I can't go any further without a password."

"Do ya have any idea what the password might be?" the King asked, looking at the four of us.

We all thought for a moment. I had no clue.

"Well, we only got this photo..." Goofy said, holding up the photo again, which was his latest obsession, apparently.

"And the salty-sweet ice cream bar!" Donald gasped.

"Yeah, the one Donald ate up," Sora said, nodding once.

"It was in the box right next to the photo," Goofy added.

"Hey, that's it!" the King exclaimed. "Ansem the Wise loved ice cream!"

"And it sounds like that was his favorite flavor," I said, nodding in agreement. "Sea-Salt ice cream."

"Okay, what's the name of the flavor again?"

"The name of the ice cream was..." Sora hesitated, looking at me. "...Sea-salt ice cream."

Pence typed it in; the silence was so ominous.

"It worked!" he cried as the screen disappeared. The machine to our right suddenly came to life, buzzing with a strange blue glow.

"Let's go!" Sora exclaimed, grinning at us.

"We'll be here to hold down the fort," Hayner told us, half-smiling.

"Say hi to Kairi!" Olette said cheerfully, smiling kindly.

"You bet!" Sora assured her, and the four of us and King Mickey walked into the machine's soft light...

*~*~*

"Are we back in the same place?" Sora wondered out loud as they stepped out of the machine. It was the same room and everything.

"Look!" Donald quacked, pointing at the computer. It was completely destroyed and would probably never work again. Ever.

"This is the other Twilight Town," Sora said quietly. "Roxas's Twilight Town."

A sudden image flashed in his head of a blonde teenage guy smashing the computer with a keyblade. He sighed.

"There's gotta be an entrance into the dark realm somewhere," the King said. "Let's split up again."

"Why? There's only one place we can go," Nexus said, pointing to the door on the far wall.

"Yeah, those stairs will just put us back where we were," Sora agreed, and for some reason, he knew he was right.

The five proceeded into the next room to find just another empty room with nothing unusual except a glowing, greenish-black portal in the corner.

"There..." Sora gasped.

"This is it," the King said darkly.

"Wait." Nexus grabbed Sora's arms just as he was about to go. "Wait. I just want to warn you." He stopped, and when she knew he was really listening, she let go of him. "We're about to go into the World That Never Was... It's really dangerous, and it will be especially so for you...because of me. Remember when I got kidnapped? They took me here, but I broke out. It wouldn't surprise me if they're looking for me."

Sora frowned, looking at the ground.

"I'm not saying you shouldn't go," she said quickly. "I'm just warning you. If they see me with you, they'll have a field day. Be careful."

"Don't worry," Sora said, smirking. "Whatever they throw at us, we can handle. Right?"

Nexus smiled, still worried. "Okay. Right."