I emerged from the portal, right as the Roxas guy and his two goons arrived. Nice one, Xigbar.

"Hey: you guys are lookin' lively!" I didn't want to have to fight him again.

The goons had a pop at me, but it was the middleman I was after. But he wanted some as well.

"Didn't we catch you messing around in the Underworld? How'd a wimp like you get into Organization XIII?" Yeah. Nice retort, kid. I pranced around, sarcastically scared. I was tired after last night, and a bit ratty.

"You shouldn't judge anybody by appearances." I warned him, but didn't feel comfortable. Roxas was always a vicious fighter, and if we had to fight, I wasn't going to be helped by the fact there was three of them. "I told them they were sending the wrong guy…" They weren't really listening. They were in a huddle, probably saying something mean. Oh well. But then, I caught the term 'no hearts' from one of the goons, and decided to give him a piece of my mind. "I do have a heart!" I informed him, my mind still on the briefcase under the sea. "Don't be mad…"

"You can't trick us!" I was absolutely infuriated. Roxas and I were never best buds, but this was annoying.

"Silence, traitor." Roxas betrayed the Organization and would get his comeuppance. Shame they'd picked the wrong guy.

I drew my sitar, and hammered on some notes, and they dodged and ducked as the water forms hurtled at their bodies. But they had the advantage over Mr Slater: they were three, and Roxas managed to sneak around the back of me, and got a cheap shot in. On the floor, I had no defence, and they repeatedly struck me, until they needed to no more. They allowed me to suffer my fate.

I climbed unsteadily to my feet. There was a fizzy feeling. My sitar vanished. "No way!" I was fading, bits of blackness and water dissolving in the air or slipping to the ground. I gripped my head, and fell to the floor again.

That was it. So close.

I'd nearly got my heart back.

But I hadn't.

I wasn't thinking of Mr Slater.

I was looking ahead.

To the future. And to nothing.