A/N: This is the third last chapter - I told you it was gonna be short...ish.

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Still.

Roxas' eyes drifted half-open, and the first thing he realized was that he was back in his own room.

Grunting in pain, he forced himself to sit up; he could feel the abrasions on his body from the fight, and his muscles screamed in agony when he tried to move his limbs. He pushed himself to get out of bed and he looked downwards, only to realize he was still dressed in the same clothes as yesterday. He yanked off his blood-encrusted shirt and scoured his messy room for a newer one.

He wanted to find Sora. He wanted to give that idiot brother of his a piece of his mind.

He pulled his door open and limped down the hallway, stumbling down the stairs and landing on the bottom floor with a soft thud.

"Roxas?" His mother called from the kitchen, and he cursed under his breath; his revenge would have to be taken later. He faltered into the kitchen and realized his mother was not alone: Mrs. Yamada was sitting in the seat next to her, and across was...Ansem?

"W-what-" The blond stuttered in disbelief, "-what are you all doing here-"

"Roxas, I think it's best you sit down," Ansem patted the wooden chair next to him, "There's a lot we have to discuss."

"What is there to discuss?" The boy spat, "My brother somehow traveled all the way across town to kick my ass in a mental hospital, and then dragged me out into the parking lot and clubbed me in the head!"

His mother choked on a sob; she was crying? "R-Roxas, honey, I-I really don't know how to say this to you-" She shook her head and stopped herself from finishing her sentence; Mrs. Yamada gave her a comforting pat on the shoulder and handed her a tissue.

"Mom?" Roxas blinked, "What's wrong? Why are you crying?" He leaned against the doorframe so he wouldn't have to use his legs so much, "Did Sora do something to you?"

"Roxas, sit down." Ansem instructed again, this time a little more sternly.

"No - I want to know why my mother is crying," Roxas growled, "Where the hell is Sora? Where's Xion? Shouldn't they be here too?" The three adults exchanged dismal looks, and it made the blond even more frustrated. "What is going on?!"

"Roxas," Mrs. Yamada said his name slowly, "Do you remember what happened in the summer nearly eight years ago?"

"What? What does that have to do with-"

"Just answer the question, Roxas." His mother's voice was hard, and it caught him off guard.

"Er-" He wracked his sore brain for an answer, "-I remember going to the beach a lot with my brother and sister...my dad would drive us and we'd spend the day there." He remembered the shattered picture frame in his room. "That was basically the only thing that happened that summer...why?"

His mother blew on her tissue. "D-d'you...do you remember the accident?"

Accident? "What accident?"

"It was all over the news," Ansem shook his head, "While you were at the beach it started to rain, so your father decided to leave early. It was very rainy and dark on the road home…"

The twin lights in the murky darkness. Roxas felt his heart stop.

"You and your father survived, Roxas," Mrs. Yamada explained gravely as his mother began to cry again, "But...your brother and sister…"

No. No. No.

That wasn't possible.

"How? They can't-" Roxas shook his head, "-I go to school with them, I drop them off at home every day before I go to the psych ward! I talk to them, I call them on their phones-"

"You were in therapy for many months after the accident, Roxas," There was a frown on his guidance counselor's aged features, "After two years we thought you had gotten over the experience - you seemed to have forgotten everything that happened, and you were living normally. You went to school, you made friends - you were a healthy child."

"B-but," His mother stammered through her tears, "When...when you started your last year of h-high school you began to change. You...you started talking...talking to people that w-weren't there. You called them...Xion and Sora. You...you were acting as if they were still alive."

The lump in Roxas' throat had grown so large he wasn't sure if he could swallow it. "N-no, that can't be possible - they...they did their community hours. Sora did his at the rec centre with Hayner, a-and Xion and Olette worked at the daycare-"

"It was all you, Roxas," Mrs. Yamada pushed forward a couple of papers on the table; Roxas limped over to see what they were - they were the sheets students used to record their hours. On the bottom of one paper Sora had signed his name - Sora Takashi - and on the other was Xion - Xion Takashi. The two signatures looked entirely different. "You went with Hayner and Olette to the recreation centre and the daycare and finished your hours, but when you recorded them into your papers you signed under your brother and sister's names."

"I don't write like that," The blond answered quickly, "And wouldn't Hayner and Olette know if I'm acting under someone else, especially if I was pretending to be my sister?"

"You become a completely different person when you switch personalities, Roxas," Ansem frowned, "Many things change, from the way you speak right down to the way you write."

"As for your friends we told them not to say anything," Mrs. Yamada explained, "Because it's not advisable to inform such things to people with your...condition when they're having an episode."

"So you decide to dump the info on me now?" Roxas threw his hands up and laughed dryly, "So what was the whole purpose of sending me to the mental hospital?"

"Isn't it obvious?" Ansem quirked a blond eyebrow, "Your mother and Mrs. Yamada informed me of your condition earlier this year and they wanted me to supervise you. I didn't think there was anything wrong until you began to tell me that you couldn't sleep at night, though you remember falling asleep."

"So what's this all supposed to mean? When I'm 'asleep'-" The blond made mock quotation marks with his fingers, "-I'm pretending to be my brother and sister?"

"Precisely," Ansem nodded, "We...we kept a hidden camera in your room to watch you when you're asleep." He held up a couple discs. "I also have security footage of your fight in the hospital from last night. We should watch it now - it'll help us to convince you that Sora and Xion are indeed deceased."

The group moved over to the living room, and Ansem bent over the DVD player to pop one of the discs in. Roxas sat stubbornly on the edge of the sofa with his head leaning into his palm; this was so stupid - Sora and Xion are alive...aren't they?

The television screen flickered, and suddenly it was projecting a shot of Roxas' room. The blond was sitting up on the edge of his bed; his eyes were glazed over, like he was daydreaming. He was muttering inaudibly; he stood up and began to pace his room, moving his hands around as if he was talking to somebody. Sometimes his voice would raise a few octaves higher to imitate Xion's, and sometimes it would lower a little so it could sound like Sora's.

Roxas stared blanky into the screen as he watched himself sift through his siblings' personalities; he could hear his mother sobbing beside him and Mrs. Yamada trying to comfort her. Was this...was this really happening when he thought he was asleep?

Ansem ejected the disc and inserted another one. The screen flickered again; this time it showed a white hallway - the hallway outside Naminé's room. Roxas was standing by himself in front of the doorway, arguing with himself.

"I knew Naminé was behind all of this-" He was speaking as Sora again, "-leave it to a girl to take your own brother away from you! You really don't remember anything at all, do you?"

"Sora, you're acting stupid." He was talking regularly now. "Can you please just go home and we'll solve this later? This isn't exactly the bes-"

This was when the fight commenced; he heard voices struggling and grunting from the doorway and Axel asking him what was going on. The next few scenes of the security video was so shocking Roxas couldn't feel his fingers.

The Roxas in the video was dragging himself out of the room; he was on the floor, moving backwards and fighting like somebody was holding him by the hair. It was as if somebody removed Sora with an editing program; Roxas was staring into the screen with eyes so wide they were beginning to tear up. He watched as he threw himself down the stairs, and then stand up and pinning himself against the wall; he shook his head in disbelief as he watched the Roxas in the television screen raise his hand to slap himself in the face, and then he grabbed himself by the neck and hauled down a few more stairs and out of the hospital.

The camera switched to another one outside the parking lot; Roxas threw himself in the car, and he stayed there for a few minutes before walking out and moving into the driver's seat. The car started, and he drove out of the parking lot like there was nothing unusual going on.

"'Sora' supposedly knocked you out with a first-aid kit from the glove compartment," Ansem explained grimly, "And then he drove you back here, where you began to drag yourself up the stairs and into your room."

At this point Roxas' hands were shaking so bad he had to stuff them in his pockets. "S-so…" He shook his spiky head, "All this time...all these months...I've been...talking to myself?"

His mother nodded and dabbed at her eyes with a piece of tissue. "Y-yes - I should've called Ansem the moment you began to do it, but I thought it was just a passing phase…"

"But…" The blond's brow furrowed, "I remember...Sora...he had soccer practice one weekend. He hurt his leg - there was this big cut right across-" He looked downwards at his own leg; he felt the three adults' eyes on him as he bent over to roll his jeans up. When he spotted the shiny scar on his shin, shaped in the exact same cut he remembered seeing on Sora's leg, he felt the tears come to his eyes. "-o-oh…"

"I can help you, Roxas," He felt Ansem's large hand on his trembling shoulder, "We can fight this together." He gestured towards Mrs. Yamada and his sobbing mother. "All of us."

"Please, Roxas," His mother begged him; she leaned forward and grabbed his hand, "Go with Dr. Mafuyu. He'll help you get better."

The blond swallowed hard. He furiously blinked the tears away and squeezed his mother's hand. "I...I don't really have a choice, do I?" He laughed sarcastically, "I mean, what good would it do if I just stayed here? I'd be talking to myself for the rest of my life. I might as well go somewhere where there are people that think the same as I do...somewhat."

"Oh, please don't take this the wrong way, honey," His mother cried, "I just want what's best for you. I want you to get better, I really do."

His eyes lowered to their joined hands. "I-I know you do," He mumbled; the tears dripped out of his blue eyes and splashed on top of his knuckles, "And I want to get better too...I don't want to talk to myself anymore." He glanced up at Ansem. "When are we going?"

"As soon as possible." He gave the boy a sad smile. "I'll be waiting outside."

Roxas stood up on shaky legs and forced himself up the stairs. When he reached his room he found Sora sitting on the edge of his bed with an apologetic smile on his face.

"Sorry, bro," He said sadly, "I didn't want you to find out this way."

He doesn't exist, the blond told himself as he moved around his room to pack his things, He's not really there. He doesn't exist.

"Hey, don't you try and ignore me just because you know now!" Sora shouted, "Imaginary or not I'm still your brother!"

"Stop it, Sora." Xion chided; she had suddenly materialized beside the brunet.

When Roxas finished stuffing whatever he could into his bag he slung it over his shoulder and left his room. He eyed the two doors down the hallway, the two doors he thought belonged to his siblings. When he opened them he was only greeted with bland, empty guest rooms.

He hugged his mother and thanked Mrs. Yamada for her help before leaving the house for what he hoped would not be the last time in his life; Ansem was waiting for him in the driver's seat of a slick black Mercedes.

"I'm very, very sorry, Roxas," Ansem's tone was solemn as the boy clambered into the passenger's seat, "I wouldn't have wanted this to happen to someone like you."

The blond shrugged his shoulders, unsure of what to make of all of this. He eyed a sheet of paper wedged in between Ansem's seat and the gear shifter, and he pulled it out to examine it; it just so happened to be his own patient profile:

Takashi, Roxas

18 years of age; male

Recently inducted resident of Twilight Psychiatric Facility

Points of Interest: Has severe insomnia and random migraine spells; temper is often short and somewhat difficult to manage. Has shown cases of amnesia due to a traumatic experience from childhood

Diagnosis: Dissociative Identity Disorder: Often shifts in between the alter egos of his deceased brother and sister Sora and Xion, respectively. Can show aggressive and violent behaviour; volunteers and employees are to take extreme caution when handling patient.

Roxas let out a dry laugh. "So the tables have turned, eh? Now I'm the one that needs to be looked after."

Ansem was silent for a few seconds before answering. "In a sense, Roxas, you were the one that was being watched the entire time."

The blond boy sighed and glanced into the rearview mirror; Sora and Xion were sitting in the back seats, staring at him with expressionless faces. He tore his gaze away from the mirror and tried to concentrate on the passing scenery outside his window, but he could not shake off the feeling of his siblings' eyes on the back of his seat.

When they reached the mental hospital Ansem showed him his new room; he purposely assigned him to the room just across Naminé's.

"I know it's a little daunting for you at the moment," The older blond placed a hand on his shoulder, "So I thought having someone you know close by will be a bit of a comfort to you."

He could hear Sora's footsteps wandering around the room. "T-thanks."

"Those clothes on the bed are the ones you will be wearing for most of the time - you best change into them as soon as possible," Ansem pointed to the pile of white clothing sitting on the foot of the white mattress, "And when it's evening and you're feeling a little restless you can always call one of the nurses to give you sleeping medication."

"Okay. Thanks again." He watched Ansem close the door before he leaned over to grab the white clothes. He sighed, staring at the bland outfit before wriggling out of his jeans and t-shirt and changing into them. He spotted the white shoes on the floor and stepped into them; he felt so insignificant in these clothes for some reason.

"So," Sora appeared just a few feet in front of him with his hands behind his back; he, too was wearing the same all-white outfit, "This is where you're gonna stay for the rest of your life, hm? At least it's clean."

Roxas groaned and swung his legs over the mattress, lying down and pressing a pillow to his ear. "You're not real," He muttered to himself as he clamped his eyes shut, "You're just in my head, you're not real…"

"Stop trying to drown me out, Roxas," Sora demanded, "It's not going to work. Just face it - you're insane, and there's no way you're ever going to get me out of that twisted head of yours. Sure, you stopped thinking about me and Xion for a few years after the accident but you never really forgot - you just stashed away your memories of us in the deepest, darkest corners of your mind. Why can't you just admit that you're guilty?"

Roxas' eyes fluttered half-open. "G-guilty of what?"

"Guilty of the fact that you were the only survivor of the accident - besides Dad, of course." He could hear the sneer in his brother's voice. "You remember the promise we made, don't we? The three of us promised we'd stick together 'till the very end, and that no matter what we'd do we'd always be by each other's side. When the accident happened and Xion and I died you were devastated - why didn't you die with the both of us? Weren't we supposed to be together no matter what?" Sora scoffed, "Someone up there must like you, Roxas."

"Please," The blond begged, "Sora, just go away. I don't want to see or talk to you anymore. Go away, please. You're not real," He threw the pillow aside and clutched his tousled head. "You're just in my head, just in my head…" The tears squeezed out of his eyes and dampened the sheets, and it worsened when Sora's bellowing laughter echoed throughout the bland room.

"You're making yourself look even more pathetic than you already are," He smirked, "So don't even try, Roxas. It's not going to work. Maybe you can just-"

Sora just stopped talking all of a sudden. Roxas sat up and turned around slowly; he was gone. When he glanced at the doorway he spotted a small blonde girl wearing a white dress and no shoes standing shyly by the door with her hands clasped behind her back. He smiled and opened his arms to her, and she smiled back and made her way towards the bed. She crawled into his embrace, and he leaned against the wall as he hugged her close to his body, pressing his cheek against her hair and closing his eyes. He could feel her heartbeat against his palm as he rubbed circles on her back. When he opened his eyes he found Sora leaning against the opposite wall, staring at him with the same blank expression he was using when they were in the car. Xion was standing beside him, wearing the same white outfit and looking just as stony as her brother.

Naminé glanced over her shoulder to see what Roxas was staring at; when she saw nothing she glanced up at him, and he looked down at her. She was still smiling, though there was a hint of sadness in it as well. She pecked him on the corner of his mouth and nuzzled her head against his neck, squeezing his waist affectionately.

"You're still my prince." She whispered.

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A/N: So I went Fight Club on all of you! I really didn't expect things to turn out this way - originally I was just going to focus on Naminé's past but then the idea of Roxas going crazy too was so intriguing...I just had to add it in.

Sora's so out of character in this story...I actually would've imagined it to be the other way around, where Sora's the one with the multiple personalities and Roxas is the 'bad' alter ego, but whatever. That's the way the cookie crumbles.

This chapter has been inspired by blink-182's Stockholm Syndrome.