Once We're Gone

Disclaimers: I own this plot and certain characters.

Authors Note: Well, this just goes to show that Armageddon is upon us. I am actually updating for three straight days in a row. Find a bunker and duck and cover.

QUICK SUMMARY: What happens to nobodies once they've become whole again? And what effect does that have on the beings that they are merged with? SK RN

Chapter 3: Out of Reach

It was a moment of happiness…

A moment, Roxas thought, he didn't deserve.

When that moment of contentment had come to an end, both companions got up and left the diner. Roxas glanced around the vibrant community filled with nobodies like himself. "So, where to now Naminé?" he wondered aloud. "I guess we have to find somewhere to live." Naminé replied. Roxas shifted uneasily as his hand rummaged around in his pocket. "Naminé," he began, "I only have 23 munny left." Roxas muttered. "We can find jobs then." Naminé answered him. She started walking off, looking around the small town. "Naminé!" Roxas called after her.

He finally managed to catch her stopped in front of a charming home. "Geeze Naminé, what's the rush?" Roxas exclaimed out of breath. Naminé ignored him and examined a sign saying "Harxis' Boarding House for Nobodies." She read aloud. Naminé turned to Roxas and smiled. "We can maybe live here, Roxas!" she said cheerily. "But what about jobs Naminé?" Roxas asked. "We'll ask the owner inside if she knows of any jobs we might be able to do." Naminé replied. Roxas just shook his head at how casually Naminé was taking the situation. He then proceeded on in with Naminé.

"Hello? Anyone here?"

Naminé peeked over the desk in the main lobby area. "Just a second!" she heard a voice from the back room. Roxas glanced around the lobby. It was a nice home, large but quaint. It wasn't really his cup of tea, per say, but Naminé seemed to enjoy it, and as far as he was concerned, that was all that mattered.

"Hello!"

Roxas brought his attention to the woman who had just appeared before him. She looked to be about mid-30's, with curly orange hair and deep chestnut eyes. She was pretty, Roxas admitted to himself. "Can I help you?" The women asked with warmth in her voice. "Yes, my friend and I would like to rent a room here." Naminé stated. The woman raised an eyebrow. "Will that be one room for the two of you?" she questioned. "NO/NO!" both Roxas and Naminé exclaimed blushing. "One room, each." Naminé clarified. The woman chuckled. "Alright then, miss…?"

"Naminé, and this is my friend Roxas."

"Well hello Naminé, Roxas. I'm Harxis!"

"It's nice to meet you Harxis." Naminé told the older woman. "Roxas and I were wondering though, if you knew of any place where we might be able to find some jobs around here?" she continued. Harxis thought to herself for a moment. "Well truth be told, I need quite a bit of help around here. More and more Nobodies keep coming in these days." She explained to the two teenagers. "I'll tell you what, you two work for me, and not only will I pay you, but I'll give you free rent as well!" Harxis exclaimed. Naminé and Roxas smiled at Harxis. "That would be great!" Naminé stated.

"Would tomorrow be a good day to start?"

"Tomorrow would be perfect. We can browse around the town today and get familiar with this place." Naminé informed. Harxis nodded and handed them two keys. "Naminé, you'll be in room 203, and Roxas you'll be in room 204." She explained. "Why don't you two get settled in before you look around?" Harxis suggested. "That sounds like a plan." Naminé replied. She grabbed Roxas' arm and dragged him to the elevator saying, "Let's go Roxas!" "HEY!" Roxas exclaimed as he was being pulled.

Harxis smiled at the two. Naminé said they were just friends but something in her gut said otherwise.

"Oh, this is the life!"

Roxas threw himself down on the large, fluffy bed. His room was absolutely huge and filled with so many things Roxas could hardly believe he acquired it all for free!

"They are nice, aren't they?"

Roxas sat straight up on his bed as he saw Naminé standing there. She let out a giggle.

"I hope you don't mind me barging in,"

"Not at all, make yourself comfortable." Roxas stated patting the empty side of his bed. Naminé situated herself next to Roxas. The two smiled at each other.

"This isn't so bad, now is it Roxas?" Naminé questioned. "Nah, I guess not." Roxas muttered. In truth, he was really enjoying himself so far. "We should go check out the town now." Naminé stated. "That sounds like a good idea. I will probably need to know where everything is. I bet you anything that Harxis lady is going to make me a delivery boy." Roxas commented getting up. "What makes you say that?" Naminé wondered. "Eh, just a feeling." Roxas explained. Naminé rolled her eyes.

"Roxas, you're a strange boy."

"Let's see if I get this straight, the mysterious blonde witch who can connect and erase memories is calling me strange?"

Naminé chuckled. "You do have a point there."

The two roamed around for quite a bit looking at the happily, busy community. It seemed like an active and lovely place to live. Even Roxas was enjoying his new surroundings. "Maybe Naminé's right," he mused, "Maybe this won't be so bad after all." Roxas continued to think.

"I wonder what's going on over there!"

Roxas turned his head to where Naminé was pointing. It looked like an arena of sorts. "Do you want to check it out?" he asked her. Naminé grinned. "Yes please!" she said cheerily. He extended his arm to her and she received it happily. They then made they're way to the arena.

"Excuse me? Can you tell me what's going on here?"

Roxas asked a spunky auburn-haired girl who gave him a strange look. "You must be a newbie if you don't know what's going on!" she stated. Roxas rolled his eyes. "How is that obvious to everyone?" he exclaimed. The girl smiled. "I'm sorry it's just that blitzball is the hottest thing around here. It's even popular in the real world!" she informed him. "…blitzball?" Roxas questioned.

"Allow me to explain," the girl began. "You see that sphere filled with water? That's the playing arena. Blitzball is kind of like rugby, soccer and water polo all mixed into one. The players swim around, throwing a dimpled ball called the Blitzball to each other in order to throw it into the opponent's goal area, thus scoring a goal. The team with the most goals after two five-minute halves is declared the winner." She finished.

Roxas seemed to grasp the concept. "Sounds interesting…"

"Sounds like fun!" Naminé quirked. "No offense, but it really isn't a girl's sport." The girl informed Naminé. "Oh," Naminé replied sadly. "But there are girls that do it! You just have to train hard! I'm sure you could play if you really wanted to!" the girl chimed in encouragingly. "Thanks! Oh by the way, my name's Naminé." Naminé said extending a hand.

The girl smiled and shook it. "Nice to meet you I'm Lexsiph!" Lexsiph stated. "And this is Roxas." Naminé continued gesturing to Roxas, who was intensely eyeing the game. Naminé glared at him and elbowed his chest.

"ROXAS!"

"OW! Yeesh Naminé! What was that for?"

"For not paying attention you idiot!"

Lexsiph giggled. "You and your boyfriend are really cute together, Naminé!" she said cheerily. The two blushed furiously before yelling

"HE'S/SHE'S NOT MY BOYFRIEND/GIRLFRIEND!"

Lexsiph laughed even louder. "My mistake," she stated apologetically. "Anyways," Naminé began in an annoyed tone, "This bozo here is named Roxas." Roxas stuck his tongue out at Naminé, like a little 5 year old. "It's nice to meet you Roxas." Lexsiph said exending her hand. "Same to you." Roxas said shaking her hand.

"So do you know anybody on the team?" Roxas asked Lexsiph. "Two of them are my friends. The blonde one is Dutixs, and the tan one is Kawkax." Lexsiph pointed out. "They're really good!" Naminé exclaimed. Lexsiph winked. "They're the best!" she chimed.

"BLUE TEAM WINS!"

As soon as the announcer had said it, the arena turned into a cheering frenzy. Lexsiph let out a huge cheer herself. Naminé giggled. "I'm guessing your friends are on the blue team!" she said cheerily. Lexsiph nodded. "C'mon, I'll introduce you two!" she said running over to where the boys were. Roxas and Naminé quickly glanced at each other, then followed their new companion.

"Roxas, Naminé…" Lexsiph began, "I'd like you to meet Dutixs and Kawkax." She said gesturing towards the two, soaken blitzball players. "Ah newbies," Dutixs began, "Welcome to Destiny Islands…well the Nobody version of it anyway." He continued. "What's happenin' brudda?" Kawkax asked squeezing Roxas into an unwanted hug. All Naminé could do was laugh.

After a few seconds of no oxygen whatsoever, Kawkax released Roxas who desperately gasped for air. "Sorry 'bout dat brudda." Kawkax stated rubbing the back of his head. "Don't think anything of it…" Roxas said hoarsely.

"Lexsiph tells me you guys were interested in playing." Dutixs stated. "Oh…well we were just saying it looked like fun." Naminé clarified. "Well if you are ever interested, we could use a few more players." Dutixs informed. "Hate to break it to you, but Naminé and myself don't know the first thing about Blitzball." Roxas said. "We could teach ya brudda!" Kawkax exclaimed.

"So what do you say, are you up to it?" Dutixs asked.

Roxas looked at Naminé who was grinning widely. He knew she wanted to learn pretty badly. He sighed, giving in. "Alright, count us in for lessons." Roxas stated. Dutixs grinned. "Great! We can start practice on Saturday." He chimed. "It's a deal." Roxas agreed.

Meanwhile, back in the Real World

Kairi and Sora endured endless hours of Sora's mother crying her eyes out, happy that her little boy had finally come home. Sora hardly had a chance to explain where he was during his mother's wailing. But after a few hours, the crying ceased, and everything needing an explanation was resolved.

"Sorry you had to go through that."

Sora led Kairi to the front door of his house. He had his signature goofy grin, all in tact. Kairi chuckled slightly. "It's ok Sora, I didn't mind staying." She said. "Trust me, you needed the support, otherwise I don't think your mother would have believed your story one bit." Kairi continued giggling. "Thanks Kairi." Sora said simply, but sincerely. Kairi smiled. "Anytime Sora…" She stated walking away. Sora was about to turn and go inside until he heard her voice again.

"Sora?"

"Yeah Kairi?"

Kairi looked at him happily. "Welcome…back Sora." She finished in a whisper. Sora smiled at his friend. "It's good to be back Kai, see you tomorrow!" he said cheerily.

"Till tomorrow!"

Sora made his way up the stairs and into his room. It was still perfectly in place as he had left it the night he set out onto his journey. As he made his way towards his bed, he felt a sharp tug in his heart.

"ARGHHH!"

Sora fell to the ground in pain. "What the…heck?" he questioned panting. He attempted to crawl to his bed, every move he was making in sheer agony. He finally reached his destination, practically tearing from the pain. "What the hell is going on?" he wondered.

"UNHHH"

Kairi collapsed on the road while walking towards her house. She placed her palm on her chest. "My heart…" she said breathlessly. "What's wrong…with my heart?" she questioned in pain.

The five teenagers walked towards Harxis' Boarding House to drop off Roxas and Naminé. They quickly found things to talk about right off the bat, and both Roxas and Naminé enjoyed spending time with their new friends.

"…and dat 'tis why, my new friends, we dun eva let Dutixs eat melons!"

Dutixs made a face a Kawkax. "Lay off the embarressing stories Kaw." He demanded. Roxas simply laughed. "It's a pretty funny story though Dutixs. Isn't that right Naminé?" he said glancing towards Naminé.

The only problem was…she wasn't there.

Fear and panic overtook Roxas at that moment. He moved his arm in the place where she had just stood. "Naminé!" he called out in panic. "NAMINÉ!" Roxas yelled out more frantically.

"ROXAS!" Naminé shouted out. "WHERE ARE YOU ROXAS?" she yelled on the verge of tears. "DON'T LEAVE ME!" Naminé continued to scream.

Dutixs, Kawkax and Lexsiph all stared in fear and confusion. They all saw Roxas and Naminé right before their eyes yelling out to each other, but both didn't seem to notice the other one was there.

DUN DUN DUN! Hmm, I wonder what's going on with our four heroes/heroines? Well, of course I know but all of you will have to wait in suspense for the next chapter. It might take me a little longer because I've been sick these past couple of days, which is exactly why I've had so much free time on my hands to update. Well keep reading and reviewing guys!

Next Chapter: Roxas and Naminé find each other the next morning, but are quite confused as to what went on. They also are receiving their jobs from Harxis. And an out of body experience allows Sora to get in touch with his counterpart.

Thanks to my reviewers!

Chibi Vixen, Lilac Phoenix, Kobe-Mac, tutorwifelove, naru-chan, jennyz, Lorraine C, Malcolm Yuy, and MegaLaManiacOfTheNorth