This void again... Same voices from before.

Again, they're unfamilar sounding. Too distorted. Too echo-y. And again, I only know the genders.

...Hm. A delay, but not in the voices. In the action. By now... there. Now we're into the familar bits.

Footsteps are less echo-y than before. Hey, I see something. ...it's gone.

"Whatever you do, don't look ba-"

SHIT! What the-

Roman awoke with not a bolting open of the eyes this time, but with an escape of breath, like something hit him. However, it wasn't necessarily because of waking up; something actually did hit him. In his blurred vision, due to both natural eye sight and grogginess, he only saw a silver stick hovering over his chest, which then receded to his left. Taking his glasses from the nightstand in the wall, he put them on and looked in that direction. Roxas had just dispelled his Keyblade. "Dude... was that necessary? Granted, I woke up from the dream, but to hit me the minute it ended?"

"Well, you overslept today," Roxas said. "But I wouldn't worry. I only woke you up for the fun of it. Today's vacation, Axel said."

"Vacation? As in, no official work for today?" Roman asked, getting out of bed and cracking his neckbones. "Oy, dude..."

"I guess that sums it up," Roxas said. "Any plans for today?"

Roman thought for a moment, never really taking vacations into consideration. He found plenty of enjoyment in his work, particularly combat tasks. Unless he had an emo phase for whatever reason (being a Nobody, that was impossible), he didn't really have a need for a vacation. "Erm... no. Zip."

Roxas tilted his head down in disappointment. "Seriously? Nothing planned?"

"Bupkus. If anything, I'll just waste time in holo-missions and kick some serious ass."

"You really do find enjoyment in fighting, don't you?" Roxas asked.

Roman put on a pair of loose leg jean pants ("more bag, more man") supported by a light blue t-shirt, and walked out the door. "Like you, I need something to hold on to. I found fighting pretty exciting, so I hold to that for now."

Roxas remained in the room in thought. "He has action, I have the time that I remember. What's supposed to define who you are?"

"Less emo, more man," Roman said from across the hall.

In the Grey Area, Vexen moped in one of the chairs, with a stack of papers now half an inch tall. A vacation, they say, he thought. Is this some excuse for me to keep an eye out? So far, it seems that no one truly knows what I am doing, and for all they know by looking at me, they must think that the "recruitment" of No. XVI is not faring well. That accursed boy will also accuse me of that "pedophilia" I once heard of! I bear no association to youth! Besides, how can those without hearts be considered "pedophiles?"

Taking his stack, he walked out of the Grey Area, unaware that he was the only one in there all along. He walked out of the castle and back into the streets. He found himself a different alley to form his portal, to prevent detection by Xigbar. I mustn't be predictable!

As before, he checked the vitals, adding any chemicals if need be. He also added his daily dose of the newly deemed Compound NM into the machine as scheduled. 30%. He decided to take a second look at the vial. How much of this is actually NM? If it's pure, I may as well destroy the girl myself.

Taking an unused vial, he drew a small amount from it and placed the sample into a machine which, unlike most of the others, was domestic. It took a minute for it to scan the Compound, but it gave the results on a screen near the test area. "10% unknown substance. 90% water or other vital substances."

Vexen's jaw went slack. Mostly water! I may as well put the rest of the vials in right now! But wait... what will happen as far as the systems if I do that? Also, there are some things I want to adjust before she awakens. Besides, I have all the time in the month right now.

He went to the containment unit's console once more to see the physicals of the girl. The metal covering went up, and the clear glass was exposed. "Hm... white hair? That may be interesting to see. No eye color known... Teenager. Oh no," he said, suddenly thinking back to Roman. "He'll make advances! So what will drive him off?"

In his head, Vexen made a list of things Roman said he found attractive in a woman (he wondered how he could find those, given all their lacks of hearts): long hair, fair bust (Vexen figured this to be bra size B to C), slim or normal figure. Which of his dislikes to cater to, I wonder? Short hair? Large or flat bust? Stout figure?

And then he promptly hit his head against a wall for thinking of doing such things.

"No. I don't know how to tune sitars," Roman said as he passed Demyx, manically and desperately pointing to a broken string on his sitar.

See? That's what you get for being a lazier ass than other people I've seen, Roman thought. Stupid bitch.

The next thing he knew, he was wearing a black short sleeved hoodie and the hall had fallen pitch black, save for him. He heard the voices again, with the same distorted quality as the dream he had earlier. The same timing. The same scream. This time, his body seemed to move involuntarily. He struggled to stop, but he kept going without stopping. His head looked back, but he couldn't make out what he was looking at before his head moved back forward. "And whatever you do, don't look ba-"

A gunshot. Roman's nerves all fired at the same time, yet he kept going. He stopped and turned around. Exactly what the voice didn't want. He saw only Xion, with a confused look on her face. Roman was once again wearing his blue t-shirt he had put on, and the halls were lit again. It happened without warning. No sounds, no eerie chorus climax, nothing. Just a sudden cut back to reality.

"What were you doing?" Xion asked. "Did a roach get in to the castle?"

"Hell if I know," Roman replied, looking around him just in case she was right. "One minute, I'm telling Demyx off. Next minute, I'm in a dream with my eyes wide awake. Is Zexion in the area?"

Xion shook her head. "He's in the library."

"Ah," Roman said, heading back down the hallway towards the simulator room. "And you're following me... why?"

"I'm still a little curious. What did you see?"

"Nothing, really. Just a change of clothes for me, and that was it."

Xion looked puzzled. "Just a change of clothes?"

"That, and everything suddenly got dark. No warning, I just find myself in a dream I was having earlier when Roxas rudely woke me up the first time around. It's not the first time overall, though. I had a similar dream the night before, but it was less than helpful, like most dreams."

"Maybe it's part of a sequence? I don't know."

Roman grunted in assent as they reached the simulator. Entering the desired mission, Roman reviewed its specifications. "Team up with Xion and travel to Amanto Edo to collect hearts. Further intel reports that a small group of Zip Slashers and an Emerald Serenade were detected."

"Wanna go?" Roman asked.

Xion nodded, and the two stepped through the square wall portal and into replaying memories. Particularly of the day Xion threw up in the talking trash can.

"I can't believe that girl threw up on me that day..." Gintoki said, reading the newest issue of JUMP. "I guess these fanfictions do weird things to people's stomachs."

Kagura slept on the couch across from where Gintoki lay, tired from walking Sadaharu after he decided to chase a group of squirrels throughout Edo. She had one hand on a rice cooker which was on the table to ensure that no one stole it, especially not those odd creatures that a few clients now had been wanting destroyed on the spot. Also on that day, somebody tried to steal their kill, which Kagura saved with a prompt hurling of a worm looking thing. There was also the question of the hearts rising to the sky. What was that all about? Is this some crossover game with a lot of OOC? Honestly, Gintoki Sakata was a little afraid to ask, since when he did, strange things tended to happen.

"Here's some more tea, Gin-san."

"Thanks, Rinoa," he said to the black haired girl. She was a fairly recent addition to the group, but a useful asset. Not only did she and Kagura add visual appeal to their group, but a recent influx of fairly wealthy male clients came by, though still spaced out in time as usual. Also, she knew a thing or two about magic, healing Gintoki in the event of a motorscooter accident or washing him down with water after being hurled on.

"By the way... I heard all sorts of commotion from all over the city. Did Sadaharu try to go off his leash again?" Rinoa asked, taking the tea tray with her to the kitchen.

Gintoki, distracted by JUMP, only pointed to Kagura with his pinky. "Oh. I see," Rinoa said when she got back.

Ringing was heard at the front door. "Someone's here," Rinoa said.

"If it's a magazine guy, just shoo him off by saying that we're already subscribed."

"O...kay. Do we have any actual subscriptions? You know, you could subscribe to that JUMP thing you like so much."

"Tried that. First few volumes of my subscription were ruined and the bonus stuff removed. Better to buy them yourself."

Rinoa slid the door open to find a hooded man on the other side, his facial features completely obscured. "Oops, sorry. Wrong building."

The next time she answered the door, she promptly slew a creature with a razor sharp discus she had recently bought for such purposes. The third time yielded a man in cobalt blue armor. "Uh oh. Sorry, wrong door."

"Sheesh, give it a rest, will ya? We're already subscribed to your magazine already," Gintoki said, coming to the front.

"What? Since when to people go door to door to ask for subscribers to a magazine?" the man asked, and he left without much else to say.

"That was fairly odd," Rinoa said, closing the door.

"VENTUS!" Kagura suddenly cried out, bolting awake and letting go of her rice cooker.

Sadaharu also woke up, but more slowly than his owner. "Did somebody fart?" Gintoki asked, knowing that Ventus is associated with wind.

"No..." Kagura said. "I dreamt that I was this really attractive woman with some sort of giant key thing. There were two other guys, Terra and a kid named Ven."

"See, that's why you leave my PSP alone. You start catering to the chapter's title," Gintoki said, pointing up, and with Rinoa completely clueless.

"I haven't touched your damn PSP!" Kagura retorted, rushing up to Gintoki's face. "I have my own PSP!"

"So why don't you use it, then?" Rinoa asked. "If you have your own PSP, you should leave Gin-san's alone."

"Movies," Kagura replied. "I tried a UMD game, and it self-destructed. A downloaded game had a virus."

The two other freelancers facepalmed. "Wow," the first man to come said from outside, inaudibly. "They suck. And I thought Roman did because of that nickname he's got for me. This really is turning out to be a fun vacation."

[Author's Notes]

- White haired experiment? Dun dun duuuuuuuuuun!

- Sensible people rejoice... there is no Gintoki x Rinoa. I put Rinoa in because I like her and I don't know Shinpachi that well, so if I had to dispense someone for KH - Artifice, he was it.

- 1st Guy: Xigbar. 2nd Guy: some random Heartless. 3rd Guy: Church from Red vs. Blue! In MY non-Keys writing!