"DiZ, may I please meet Roxas?" Naminè asked him, leaving her usual sanctum of the Pod Room or her White Room. She stood before all three of them, surprising them all.
"Why? You should focus on Sora." DiZ asked her, trying to direct her back to her duty of chaining together Sora's memories.
"I think… it'll help me extract the memories once I meet him. If I come in contact with him, I could reach deeper into his memories and pull them out. Please DiZ; I really do think it will help."
DiZ sighed, understanding her reasoning, "Alright. You two will escort her." He looked at Saiyoku and Riku, who both nodded, though Saiyoku added rolling her eyes.
"Thank you." Naminè said to all of them, and she stood on the machine. DiZ pressed the button and she was coded and dematerialized into the simulation. Riku followed suit and Saiyoku went in as well.
When they arrived at Station Heights in the computer Twilight Town, The whole place was practically deserted of life. The sun was in its usual place, but no one was around.
"They must all still be sleeping." Saiyoku looked around, lowering her hood when she felt it was safe enough.
"Saiyoku, I'll take Naminè wherever she needs to go. You go watch Roxas until she's ready."
"What!?"
"Don't you feel it would be a little strange that there would be three people, two of them dressed in black coats and one with his hood up all the time?"
"It's already strange."
He ignored her, "We need to split up."
"Grr… why do you want to be with Naminè?"
"Because I'm afraid to leave her with you." He said simply, a smile in his voice. Saiyoku gave him a wicked smile, "Well, when you put it that way…"
"C'mon Naminè. Where are we off to?"
"Um… how about we go down to the Marketplace?" She trotted down the road with Riku following behind her, his long strides almost overtaking her. Saiyoku frowned and her 'ticked off' look flashed over her expression for just a second, but then it was gone. She jumped up onto the rooftops again and jumped from building to building until she could see the Usual Spot again.
Roxas came walking down the street right on cue, going straight inside the Usual Spot. A few moments later he came walking out, a confused expression pasted on his Sora-ish face. He wandered over to Station Heights, Saiyoku trailing him from above. She watched as he found Pence and Olette a little further down the hill.
"Hey." He called to them, and Olette happily responded, "Morning." The two friends moved to join their friend, but they froze in place… like, literally. Time had completely stopped for the two, but neither for Roxas nor Saiyoku.
"Huh…?" Roxas ran over to his two friends, but was stopped by the magically appearing Naminè. She smiled, "Hello, Roxas."
"I don't even see the point on going over there… total waste of time." Riku muttered behind Saiyoku, who jumped again, still not used to his voice. She welcomed him with a smack to the face, making Riku hunch over in pain.
"I think you would've learned your lesson by now." She sighed and looked at him, her face full of skepticism. He stood up straight and flicked her between the eyes before returning his attention to the two Nobodies below them. Saiyoku did the same while she rubbed where his finger had hit her pointedly.
"And you are…?" Roxas asked, but Naminè held up her hand to stop him, "I wanted to meet you at least once." She folded her hands and continued grinning softly.
"Me?"
She nodded, "Yes, you."
Roxas rubbed the back of his head sheepishly, not really sure what to say to this strange girl. Naminè turned away and walked past Roxas' friends. Riku nudged Saiyoku, "That's my cue. You keep following Roxas."
"Got it." She said in a monotone. As soon as Naminè and Riku were out of sight, Olette and Pence immediately unfroze as if nothing had happened.
"Olette dragged me along to go shopping." Pence said, implying that he wanted Roxas to come with him to save him from the torture. Sounds like someone I know… Saiyoku thought, grinning.
"Hey, you wanna come with us?" Olette asked him, but Roxas did a double take, "Um, uhh, wait… did you just see that…" He looked over the hill but didn't see anyone. Olette put one hand on her hip and both she and Pence sighed.
"He's stalling…"
"Very well, then. We'll see you later, Roxas, okay?" Olette said good-naturedly. The two friends took off, leaving Roxas in a sort of dazed/disbelieving state.
"Y-Yeah," Roxas turned back down the hill and cocked his head, "Did she go to that haunted mansion?" He headed off to investigate, while Saiyoku followed on the rooftops.
"Haunted mansion? Is that what they call it here? Huh, I guess with all of us strange characters going in and out and it supposedly being abandoned, I guess you would think it was haunted." Saiyoku chuckled and followed closely behind him. She ran out of rooftops so she had to jump down and trail him by ducking in and out of places, hoping to stay out of his sight.
When they reached the Marketplace, both of them could see Naminè standing underneath the archway that the tram usually ran under. Roxas immediately took off after her, but she continued walking away until by the time he got to the underpass, she was gone. Saiyoku followed him through the crack in the wall and had to find some other place to hide since he had stopped dead after getting to the forest.
"Huh?" Dark tendrils crept up underneath him, more like smoke than tendrils really. It opened up a hole in mid-air and three Dusks clambered out and surrounded him. Saiyoku, do not interfere until I tell you. DiZ's voice echoed inside her mind. She grimaced, unhappy that she couldn't fight the Nobodies.
One of the Dusks floated above Roxas and grabbed his hand, pulling on him, but Roxas recoiled and ran back through the hole, "Huh? Lemme go!"
Now Saiyoku. The three Dusks approached the hole, but Saiyoku took them out with her Keyblade, only to have three more appear in front of her and three behind her to go after Roxas. She had no choice but to fight the ones in front of her first, but she needed to hurry to get the ones after Roxas. She took care of them quickly and ran after the others.
When she arrived at the Sandlot, time was standing still again; the Dusks were gone and so was Roxas. Naminè and Riku were standing there instead, waiting patiently.
"Hey, where'd Roxas go?" She asked them.
"Something happened and DiZ needed to transfer him somewhere. No idea where though. He wants us to head over to the Mansion."
"Alright. I was actually just on my way over there with Roxas until those Dusks appeared." She opened a Dark portal since it was easier. They left and entered the Mansion in a room Saiyoku had never seen before. It was all white again, but this time, you couldn't tell where the floor was or the walls or even the ceiling. Different gradients in the color helped some, but it was still all white either way. Everything echoed too, as if the place was enormous.
The three all made themselves at home; Riku leaning against a wall, Saiyoku sitting down against the same one, and Naminè sat up high on a raised part of the room. It was quite a while before something actually happened. One minute it was just the three of them, the next: there was Roxas, holding out his hand as if someone had offered theirs to him. Naminè seemed to have been expecting him, and she smiled.
He looked up at her on the raised surface and opened his mouth to speak, but Naminè held up a finger to her lips.
"My name is Naminè. Roxas… Do you remember your true name?"
Both Saiyoku and Riku knew from what DiZ had told them that what she was getting at must not be revealed to Roxas if he was to cooperate. Riku instantly reached Naminè and grabbed her by the arm and pulled her to her feet, "Say no more, Naminè." Saiyoku reached her soon after.
"But if no one tells him, Roxas will…"
"It's best he doesn't know the truth." Riku interrupted her, and Saiyoku nodded in agreement.
"Hey! You're that pickpocket!" Roxas pointed to Riku who merely opened a Dark portal behind Roxas, definitely freaking the kid out. Saiyoku came up behind Roxas who was too busy backing away from the eerie portal and shoved him headfirst into it by the head.
"Nicely done." Riku said approvingly.
"You just appreciate that because you and I know that Sora needs a good shove to the head once in a while. I did it because if Sora needs it, Roxas DEFINITELY needs it." She laughed and opened up her own portal. Riku turned to Naminè, "Are you fine here?"
She nodded, so Riku left through the portal with Saiyoku, the passageway closing behind them.
--
"Restoration at forty eight percent." The loading bar stopped. Sora's memories were almost completely restored…
"Was that Naminè made of data?" Riku asked, confused. Naminè had constantly disappeared and reappeared while he was with her, and it had been seriously confusing and annoying.
"No… Naminè hijacked the data herself. Look what she's done now… I had attempted to only send a copy of her, but she confused the machine and allowed the Nobodies to enter easily. She's totally beyond my control!" DiZ hit the nearby monitor to his right.
"Calm down." Both Riku and Saiyoku told him.
"It doesn't matter. As long as Naminè accomplishes her goal… We needn't worry about what befalls Roxas." DiZ said, his tone still full of frustration.