When I came to, I was admittedly surprised to find myself still atop the clock tower. "So you're back to normal, then?"

"Give me one good reason not to throw you off this clock tower." I growled, spinning to face the still-cloaked Riku. Said albino merely pushed away from the wall, walking over and bending so that he was at eyelevel, "Maybe because it won't do any good."

"Get outta my face." I shoved his shoulder and stalked to the other side, folding my arms over my chest. "You're notorious for screwing things up, you know that?" Riku taunted, following and leaning over the side. Damn, what I'd give to throw him off…

"What, was I still supposed to be a good little girl?"

"No—I knew you'd remember eventually. DiZ doesn't care what happens to you, anyway."

"Your employer? Lovely—that means I really am just the bait…" Then a thought struck me, "Wait a sec—what did I screw up, then?"

"That boy wasn't supposed to throw you out. His program glitched out, and I had to re-write it from scratch."

"Meaning…?"

"Enjoy it while it lasts—consider it payback for saving me in Castle Oblivion."

"Wait—so I can see them again?" But by the time I'd turned towards him, he was gone. I stood there for a long time—or maybe it was only a few minutes—thinking over all that had happened, when the tower suddenly shook as the clock struck ten.

"The Struggle!" Cursing my luck, I slipped on my skates—not bothering to think how or when they got there—and raced down to the Sandlot, skidding to a stop with a cry of, "I'm NOT late!"

The small crowd that had gathered before the announcer turned, and I could see Roxas' eyes light up—at least he seemed glad I was there. Olette placed a hand on my shoulder, "Surprisingly…you're not. They're just about to start."

"Wait a sec…you mean…I'm really not late?"

"Late for breakfast, at least." Pence scoffed, stuffing another pancake in his mouth. Olette swatted his arm, "Pence! Those were for Aanyx!"

Seeing Roxas and Heyner climb onto the stage, I waved them down, "Shh! It's starting!"

"Our first match of today's Struggle tournament will be between Roxas and his best friend, Heyner!"

"You seem pretty excited about it, Aanyx. I thought you said you wouldn't watch it if someone paid you." Olette commented as we watched the match. I shrugged, "And miss out on a memory like this? Hell no!"

"Well, at least the gang's back together. I still can't believe you forgave Heyner after that."

"Well, it was my fault, wasn't it?" The conversation stopped there, however, as Roxas stole Heyner's last orb. "And the winner is…ROXAS! Not even friendship will slow this kid down! And Heyner put up a great fight too!"

Said blonde, however, had fallen straight to the ground and spread himself out on the stage. "I lost!" Heyner whined, "Aww, I can't believe it!" Roxas helped him to his feet, "It's not so bad…"

"Yeah…I guess I taught you well, huh?"

"I had a lotta fun fighting you." Heyner grinned at that before folding his arms over his chest and looking away, "Yeah, well I didn't, wise guy."

"Hey, let's find a way to cheer you up." Roxas suggested. "Nah, that's all right."

"Boys…" I muttered with a roll of my eyes before running to meet them, "Way ta go, Roxas!"

"I'm glad you came, Aanyx." He grinned, narrowly missing my noogie. Heyner once more folded his arms over his chest, "I'm surprised you came. Didn't you say something about 'rather eat dirt'?"

"Oh, whatever." I grinned, "Like I'd miss out on seeing you get pummeled."

"Oh yeah?"

Avoiding his tackle with a well-timed side-step, I looked at the stage and frowned, "Vivi's in the tournament?"

"Strange, huh? He just sorta came from nowhere…"

"When did Vivi get so tough?" Heyner asked. I shrugged, keeping my eyes trained on the match. In the times I'd seen Vivi fight, he would always stick to short-range attacks. This Vivi, however…

'He's a Dusk.' I realized, noticing the familiar, sporadic thrashing. 'That must mean Axel's trying for Roxas…'

THUNK! The Sandlot went silent as Seifer fell to the stage, all 100 orbs scattered around. "I-I'm not sure what just happened…Um…but…the winner is Vivi! In a positively blistering comeback!"

"Talk about unexpected…" Pence muttered to Olette, who nodded. I kept my eyes on the Dusk, watching as it stared straight at Roxas. "That's not Vivi." Seifer said suddenly, walking past. He stopped just after Roxas, not looking back as he added, "Thrash 'im."

Seeing the look on Roxas' face, I gently shoved his shoulder, "Aw, he's just being a sore looser. What other Vivi could there be, right?"

"Yeah, I guess…" But his look in the other direction spoke loud and clear, 'If only you knew…' That look worried me—what did I miss during the last few days? But he walked on stage before I could call him on it.

"And now, the match you've been waiting for: Roxas VS. Vivi!" Something rippled through the town—some sort of energy was approaching. I knew I couldn't be around when Axel showed up, because that might ruin what time I had left with Roxas. So, spotting a corn dog vendor on the other side, I leaned towards Olette, "Want anything? I'm gonna get a dog."

"Sure—and probably two for Pence."

"Got it."

I tried to keep the match in sight, hoping I looked like I was merely interested in the match. In actuality, however, I was more worried I'd be too late.

I just reached the shade behind the tree when the energy rippled again, this time causing the town to freeze itself. Thanking Kingdom Hearts for my luck, I waited in my hiding place as 'Vivi' turned into the Dusk, Roxas' Struggle bat turning into the Reverse Kingdom Key.

"Well now, there's an interesting turn of events…" I muttered, clutching the branches as Roxas fought the four Dusks without hesitancy. But why did he have the Reverse Kingdom Key? He never had it before…

'…No, that's not true' I realized, 'He had it after we defeated Xion…Who was made of Sora's memories! That means that Sora must be nearby!' I looked around, half-expecting the boy to be behind the trees as well. Nothing but the frozen town.

Hearing a sudden bout of applause made me turn my attention back towards the stage. There stood Axel, directly across the stage from Roxas, hood drawn. "Roxas. All right. Fight, fight, fight." Roxas took a weary step back. "You really don't remember. It's me…you know…" He paused to remove his hood, "Axel."

"Axel?" Roxas said, and I realized with a pang that I'd mentioned him before.

"Hey!" The sudden awareness of reality caused me to misjudge my footing, and Ilanded face-first in the dirt. I vaguely heard Axel give a mutter of "Crap…" before he took off running, and Olette helped me to my feet. "Who was that guy?"

"Dunno…I think he said his name was Axel or something." I shrugged, wiping the blood off my elbow. "What did he want?" Roxas asked, walking towards where Axel had run off. "To piss be off, probably…"

"Talk about 'Blank' with a capital 'B'. Man oh man, even the Dusks aren't gonna crack this one…" Axel said as he summoned his Chakrams in a bout of flames. Roxas took another step back, slowly running out of stage, "Wait a sec…tell me what's going on!"

Axel looked around, "This town is his creation, right? Which means we don't have time for a Q & A. You're coming with me—conscious or not—then you'll here the story." The town warped again, and I crouched low into the shadows at Axel's worried mutter of, 'uh-oh…' A man clad in red, head wrapped by bandages, appeared suddenly before me, and I somehow knew this was the man that had brought me here—DiZ, Riku had called him—the mysterious employer.

"So it was you…" Axel snarled, charging up his Chakrams with fire and throwing them at the man. They disappeared in a wall of green codes, and 'DiZ' turned his attention to Roxas, unfazed, "Roxas, this man speaks nonsense."

"Roxas, don't let him deceive you!" Axel cried desperately.

"Roxas!"

"Roxas!"

"ENOUGH!" I yelled, throwing a rock at DiZ. It, too, disappeared, and I suddenly felt very stupid as all three looked towards my hiding place. "…Aanyx? What are you doing—how—?" Roxas asked, confused. I groaned—so much for not being seen—and walked out, glaring at the one brown-orange eye I could see under the red-and-black bandages. "I'm not sure how, Rox." I said softly before returning my glare at DiZ, "What do you want." It wasn't a question. DiZ laughed, "The answer to your question can be found in the Seventh."

"What does that mean? Aanyx, what's going on?" Roxas demanded. I shook my head, "It's hard to say…" We were slowly engulfed in a white light, and I soon found myself back beside the corndog stand, four balanced in one hand and munny out.

Roxas snapped back to reality, and Vivi fell to the stage, out cold. "What…What just happened?"

Forgetting the corndogs, I shoved the orbs at the vendor, "Keep the change," and raced on stage, "Roxas!" The others joined in the group hug not long after, the announcer yelling over our cheers. "Ladies and gentlemen, Roxas—our new top Struggler!"

"Nice one, champ!" Pence chuckled, thumping him on the back. Roxas still seemed out of it, and Heyner leaned down to look him in the eyes, "…Roxas?"

"Setzeerrrr!" A group of girls cried as a silver-haired man clad in purple approached. I rolled my eyes, "Great, Captain of the Airhead Committee's cousin."

"That's Seifer's cousin?" Roxas asked. I nodded, placing a hand on his shoulder, "Sadly yes. Listen, Roxas…not that you need it, but…here." I pulled the star-shaped keychain out of my pocket, slapping it onto his hand. "What's this for?"

"It's a good luck charm. The red is for courage, while the black is for stability."

"Roxas! It's starting!" Olette called. I nudged him towards the stage, "Knock 'em dead, Rox."

"Thanks, Aan."

I watched as Setzer said something that caused Roxas to scowl, and I could just make out his growl of, "Get real!" over the din.

"Roxas, our underdog hero, versus Setzer, our defending champion! The winner of this match will be the true champion! That's bragging rights for a whole year, folks!"

This time I could hear Setzer's cry of, "Let's Struggle! My life's a chip in your pile. Time to ante up!"

"Nrgh! Heyner! That's way too tight!" Roxas gasped, trying to pull at the front of the championship belt. I chuckled, "Check out Roxie's bling."

"Looks good on you, new champion!" Pence called. Roxas merely rolled his eyes and grabbed the trophy, pulling each of the five stones off. Pence got yellow, Heyner red, Olette purple, green for me, and he kept the blue for himself. "As promised." He grinned, holding it up to the light. I followed suit, Twilight turning a beautiful emerald green. "One more treasure for us to share." Heyner chuckled. We sat there a moment longer, ice cream all but forgotten as we each admired our treasures. It was only after mine had slipped from my hand that I realized my grip had gone lax on the stick, causing me to fumble. I lost balance, eyes widening as time seemed to slow down.

My arms flailed.

Heyner, Pence, and Olette called my name.

Roxas dove after me, grabbing me and turning us around as we fell.

I blacked out.