Sora lounged in the dining area of Danny's kitchen. Mia had left, and Dog had been summoned by Merle, leaving him with Danny, King and Zemyx. Zemyx was back to playing cards again, and King had pulled his book out. Danny looked at each critically, then got up, collected everything back on to the trolley he'd used earlier, then beckoned to Sora as he returned to the kitchen.
"Give me a hand with the dishes, Sora," Danny told him. "It'll give me a chance to talk with you."
"About what?"
"Oh, don't worry. You're not in any trouble. I do this with everyone new person who stops by. I heard about your little excursion yesterday. You weren't really meant to go on it."
"Why not?"
"Against the rules. Merle shouldn't have sent you. No one's meant to go and investigate their own folk. She and I had a fair argument over that, but since she'd already sent you, there wasn't much I could do about it."
"I didn't do badly or anything."
"I wasn't suggesting you did. It got you a little practical experience in the rules while outside. They're more harshly enforced outside than they are in here."
"Danny, why does no one want to talk about why the Dark Arcology is named that, or why we're not allowed to do all these things outside?"
"Merle tells me it's orders, which is interesting, because as far as I know, the Firsts are the only ones who give orders, and there's no one above them."
"So no one disobeys these orders?"
"That's right. There's rumours about people just going missing when they break the rules, and they're either never seen again, or found later outside with no memory of us. Don't get any ideas about trying that to get out of it yourself, by the way."
"I've kinda accepted there's nothing I can do."
"No you haven't. I can tell that. But take my advice, just let it be. Work with the system, it does far better for you."
"So how did you come here?"
"Me? Oh, that's not all that interesting, you wouldn't want to hear it."
"No, go ahead."
"Merle wanted a better cook."
There was a long silence, broken only by the sounds of their washing.
"That's it?"
"That's it. That's the entire reason I'm here."
"And you got given status as her Second?"
"Only because she didn't have anyone else she trusted with it more. She's not allowed to choose Miasma or Zemyx because of blood ties, King's already said he doesn't want the position, Dog... needs to get out of being a first ranker before he can be considered, and you're new. There's a few others as well, but none of them worth considering, she told me. They're all second rankers."
"No fifth rankers?"
"None. But like I said... anyway, I was given the chance, and I did the best I could. I watch over everyone under Merle while they're here inside, and I'm often a counsellor, someone to come to for advice, even by people who aren't owned by Merle. During the day I open this place up to the general public of the tower, and often end up doing the same for the regulars who stop by. But as Seconds go, I don't actually do all that much, I don't even give orders often."
"No offence meant or anything... but do you think she might ask me to replace you?"
"Not allowed again. You're a third rank, Sora. You need to work to become a fourth before you're actually eligible, and that means going above and beyond what's expected when you're on the job."
"So I've just gotta wait for work."
"For now. In about a week, you'll get a visit from a clerk from one of the admin floors, they'll see what you've achieved, what Merle and I think of your conduct and work, interview you and things like that. Then they make suggestions to us about what sort of work you're best at, the sort of missions to give you and such. After that's out the way, there's two ways you can go, through the education system, which would help enhance your control and usage of the power and what you can do with it, learn more about the tower, rules, and all that, or you can sign up at the Jobs board. Once there, you can take any job on the board you think you can do, but the better thing about it is that if you haven't taken a job, and haven't been assigned a task already by me or Merle, other Seconds can use the board to get you to carry out missions for them."
"Sounds like a good way to do more."
"Yeah, only down side is that as you complete more stuff for them, they take note, the Seconds talk to their Firsts, and they'll try to get you off Merle. It happens a lot. You'll still have to wait the week though. Until then, why not stick around here? I could use the help when I open up."
Danny's café attracted a fair number of people throughout the morning. While it was by no means busy, as it was only him and Sora there, they were left with no shortage of things to do. The regulars accepted this, they'd seen it all before, and those who weren't regulars either pretended to ignore it, or complained.
One such complainer marched up to the counter separating the kitchen from the tables, and started mouthing off loudly at them for slow work, among other things. Sora tried to reason with him, but without being able to get a word in edge ways, gave up and instead pulled out his keyblade.
"You see this?" he asked, the offending person now silenced. The regulars looked on in a mix of curiosity and amusement. "It means shut up and leave. You don't like it slow, tough. You can see there's just the two of us. If you ever come in here again, you'd better have fixed that attitude."
He stood there, stunned, staring down the keyblade at Sora until Danny came up behind him, examined the situation, then looked to the him, his markings in plain sight.
"What are you standing there for?" he asked with a hard tone. "You were told to get out."
He wisely chose to leave before either Sora or Danny did anything else. A few of the regulars raised their drinks to Sora for his handling the situation.
Things quieted down again after lunch passed, with only a handful of people coming by. As was apparently Danny's custom, there was no food prepared now until the evening meals.
"Hey, Sora? You can handle drinks, right?"
"Yeah, why?"
"I'm running low on a few things. If you feel up to it, how about handling things here while I restock?"
"You sure about this? I am new, after all," he grinned back.
"You'll do fine, kid. I won't be long, and after earlier, I doubt you'll have any problems if trouble happens again."
"No worries, I'll keep things going for you."
"That's the spirit."
Things were quiet enough that he didn't need to do much except kick back with a coffee and relax. Maybe it wasn't as bad here as he thought.
His relaxing was interrupted by a familiar sight entering the café – one wearing the distinctive Organization XIII robe. He kept the keyblade nearby, just in case.
Whoever it was made no hostile move at all, instead crossing his arms on the counter, and leaning on them.
"What'll it be?" he asked. He might not like the Organization, but he'd been left in charge, he wasn't about to turn them away.
"Sea salt ice cream," a familiar voice replied, followed by the hood pushed back. It was Roxas.
"What are you doing here?"
"Nice to see you too. So do I get the ice cream?"
"I don't think we've got any here."
"Oh well. Another time. What have you done, Sora?"
"What do you mean?"
"Last time I saw you was right before I rejoined you again. Next thing I know, I'm back again, I'm here... wherever here is, and I've got these markings on my wrist." Roxas pulled up a sleeve, showing them.
"They look like..."
"The same markings everyone else has, yeah. Except I stopped by the registry and looked them up. They don't exist anywhere."
"Maybe they're a kind of reaction to my getting marked with them then. Do you have the same power everyone else gets with it?"
"Nope. I'm guessing that's yours."
"Yeah."
"You can keep it. What gave you the mark?"
"This place. Seifer recommended me to them, and if they're interested, they make you an offer you can't refuse – literally."
"How so?"
"Oh, you can either take up their offer, get marked, take the power and work for them, or you can refuse, try to fight your way out to a non-existent exit, and when you can't go on, they'll haul you back up and make the offer again, refuse a second time and then they'll break you and force it on you. I decided to forgo the last part."
"So now you work for them."
"Whenever Merle gives me something to do, yeah."
"Merle?"
"My owner."
"One of these Firsts I keep hearing about?"
"Yeah. How come you know some of these but not others?"
"I keep getting fragments of your memories. What possessed you to use Axel's name?"
"First one to mind. Do me a favour?"
"What's that?"
"See if you can get out of here and tell them what's happened to me."
"That'll be a problem if the exit doesn't exist."
"You could use the Port agency, down on the fifth floor."
"Identification needed. I already stopped by. My markings would attract attention."
"Stick around then, once Danny gets back, I'll see if I can port you outside."
"You can do it?"
"Of course I can. Nothing to it. Hey, was that you back at the arcade?"
"Yeah, why?"
"Then you saw me do it when I was with Dog."
"Oh, that. Sure it's safe?"
"You're as bad as Dog. He's terrified of it. If I can port him alright, I can manage the same with you."
"Guess it doesn't hurt to try. Grab me a drink then, and I'll be around. Oh, and put that keyblade of yours down," he grinned. "You might hurt someone with it."
Dog was in his room, laid out on the bed. While he was ranked at the very bottom, Merle treated him well, giving him a room identical to Sora's. This was at least a sign of his good work for her, as others of the same rank were often treated a lot worse.
At least after breakfast the mornings were quiet. Danny didn't tell him to help at the café, he'd always made it clear that it was on the basis of if he wasn't busy, and wanted to help.
He could, of course, have gone to anyone else and asked if they wanted help. He didn't understand a lot of what King did though, and Merle's children weren't easy to be around for long.
Sora? Well, he could see Sora, but Sora had probably had enough of him after yesterday. There was only so much time you could spend around a first ranker before you grew bored of them, he reasoned.
He was saved the trouble of deciding by a knock at the door.
This was unusual, not least because most people would just let themselves in, and he wouldn't be able to do anything but complain, and even then he'd probably be silenced.
At the door was a tall woman with jet black hair, dressed in a smart suit, holding a clipboard.
"You are Dog?" she asked. He nodded in reply. "I have questions for you."
"Of course. Please do come in." This was hardly necessary, she didn't need his permission to come in. No one did.
She seated herself at the table, Dog taking the floor nearby.
"Your owner is Merle, correct?"
"That is correct. If it's not any trouble, may I ask who you are?"
"I am an Authoritor," she replied. "You may consider me ranked above the Firsts."
"Then, may I know what I have done to warrant such a visit?"
"Nothing. It's Merle I'm concerned about. I have questions I need answered."
"Then ask, and I will do my best to answer them honestly, mistress."
"Don't do that, for a start."
"Of course, mist- uh, madam."
"Ma'am will suffice. Now then. Tell me, who is the most recent person to become owned by Merle?"
"That would be master Sora, who was brought in by recommendation, and mistress Merle won rights to bring him in."
"I see. Was the proper procedure followed during that?"
Dog shifted uneasily. Merle hadn't followed it, and he knew it, but he couldn't lie. He'd just told her he'd be honest.
Silently asking Merle to forgive him, he answered, "Yes, in all ways but one."
"Explain."
"Mistress Merle... took the matter of meeting master Sora personally."
"So she did not delegate this to her Second, or any other, and was present when he entered?"
"That is the way it happened."
She wrote on the clipboard during a long silence, her expression moving from stern to disapproving, then continued on.
"What about the proper post-introduction procedure?"
"I was personally escorting master Sora on his first day here, mist- ma'am."
"It's my understanding that she summoned him and gave him a task. Is that correct?"
"I believe so," he replied, his heart sinking. If Merle found out he was giving out this condemning information, he'd be in trouble for sure.
"What was the task?"
"I'm afraid I was not present when he was given it."
"I see. Then tell me who was assigned to the required investigation of his friends."
"It's my understanding..."
"Yes?"
"That it was master Sora."
"Dog, I understand that you may be unwilling to act against your owner, but it is quite important you don't try to conceal information like that."
"My apologies, ma'am."
"No need for that. I always let people off with one warning. Now, I have to know, how many other transgressions has your owner made?"
"Ma'am?"
"How many other times has she gone against standard procedures and the like?"
"Not including those two... I believe it's a total of twenty that I know about."
"Your honesty is appreciated. You know where she right now?"
"I do, ma'am."
"You will take me there."
"As you wish, ma'am."
Danny ushered the last of his patrons out, their dinners eaten, and the café closed for the day. Roxas had already left, waiting not far away outside.
Sora went to him, having told Danny he wouldn't be long before leaving.
"That was quick," Roxas remarked.
"Danny doesn't take much convincing. You ready?"
"Sure, but I've got a question. How am I going to get back in again?"
"I'll figure something out later. Just don't leave Twilight Town until I do."
"Making it up as you go along again?"
"Whatever works. Now shut up so I can concentrate."
"No need to be like that."
"Roxas!"
"Alright, I get the idea!"
Sora concentrated, hoping this would work. He wasn't as sure as he'd claimed to be, and wasn't certain he'd get it right.
He focused on the same alley he'd used before at the Port agency, built up his power, then let it drag them – there was no better word, but it was the only way to describe it – toward it. Their view blurred into black, then through grey, then settled back into the alley. Already he felt the coldness of being nobody again.
Roxas seemed unfazed.
"I guess you can do something right after all."
"Hey! You don't know how difficult that was."
"Sure. I thought you said I wouldn't recognise you out here?"
"Maybe your markings cancel that out, I dunno. I better get back before I'm missed."
"Yeah, sure. Tell Danny he needs to stock-"
"Sea salt ice-cream, yeah, I told him already. I'll check up on you if I get the chance."
"Don't get yourself in any more trouble, Sora."
"I'll try," he replied, already focusing on getting back to the café.
Danny glanced up as he appeared back again, apparently not surprised.
"You probably shouldn't have done that, you know," he told Sora.
"You knew?"
"I know you left and took someone with you. That's all."
"Could you keep it quiet for me?"
"You're going to have to convince me."
"His name's Roxas. He's sort of me, but not quite. He might not be bound by the same rules as us, and if not-"
"Didn't I tell you to not to keep doing that?"
"You gave me advice on it. I don't plan on doing any more anyway, it's up to him."
"That's a neat way out of it, but you can't fool me." He stopped what he was doing, and thought hard for a few moments, then sighed. "Alright, I'll forget about it. But if Merle, or another First asks, I won't hide it from them."
"They won't ask."
"It's likely they won't, not certain. You owe me a big favour though."
"That's alright," he grinned. "I'll just forget about it."
"Oh, you can count on my remembering."
Sora felt his markings glow, or rather he felt the sharp but brief pain in his wrist that made him instinctively jerk it back. Danny's markings apparently also did the same, as he dropped the pan he'd been cleaning, coming up with some creative curses.
"Yours too?"
"I hate it when it happens like that. Something I'll never get used to."
"I'll take that as a yes."
"Come here, and I'll port us both there. It'll be quicker, I've done it more often than you have, and we'll see what Merle wants with us."
Sora recognised the room they blurred into, it was the same one he'd been summoned to the day before. King was sat in one chair looking distinctly uncomfortable, and Dog was stood on the other side of the room with a severe looking woman in a suit. Merle was sat on her couch again, looking unhappy.
The severe woman looked hard at her. She sighed, addressing them all.
"I'm afraid to say I'm being forced to step down because of rules I ignored or broke. I don't have any choice. Each of you are here because there needs to be someone to replace me."
"That's right," the woman continued. "And I'm required to oversee this. Except for Dog, you are all eligible in some form or another. King, you are here as you are of the fourth rank. Danny, your presence is obvious. Sora, you are here at my request."
This startled him, "Me? Why?"
"As I understand it, mister King does not want to be a Second or First, and your existing Second has turned down the offer to be made a First multiple times."
Danny shook his head, "I don't want the job. To be fair, I didn't really want to be a Second, but I'm told I haven't done a bad job around running my café, so I do my best with it all the same."
"Quite. As such, it's necessary to make an exception to the normal rules, and look to the third rank, and of the third rank, you, Sora, are the only one eligible. Or you would be, if you had been here longer."
"So where does that leave us, madam..."
"You will refer to me as Authoritor."
"Madam Authoritor, then."
"You're aware that Sora cannot take the position until the obligatory week has passed?"
"Of course. I was just talking about that with him this morning."
"Then here is what I have decided. You will take the position of Acting First for one week During that time, Sora will be your Second. Pending the review of Sora at that time, you will take the position full time if the review is not favourable."
Sora had to ask. "If it is favourable, what then?"
"Then you will become First."
Merle jumped to her feet. "I must protest! You can't expect to take Sora, only with us for a few days, and just give him that rank right away! It's never been done before!"
"There is nothing in the regulations that prevents it. You also no longer have the rank to protest this decision, Merle." She turned to King. "As the most senior person present not involved in this, do you have any objections?"
"N-none at all," he stammered out.
"Good. Now, Merle, Sora, Danny, you'll all come here."
She took each of their wrists in turn, tapping their markings. Merle's eyes lost their blackness, and a skull formed on her wrist, marking her as a second rank now. Danny instead took the eyes, his '2' on the wrist vanishing, to reappear on Sora's own wrist in place of his previous mark.
"I will return in a week after the review has been done," she told them. "I expect no further trouble in that time."
She strode from the room with no more than a second glance at any of them.
Sora almost couldn't believe what just happened. Given the expressions on Merle and Dog's faces, they couldn't either.