So uh… Hey. It's been almost three months since the last update, and I got to apologize for that. I'd like to say I've been busy, but the truth is it was just I didn't want to write. This chapter was actually started when the last one was posted, but it's sat half-finished for a while. If anything you can actually thank being busy for this, because writing the final paper for one of my classes is what got me back to writing this.

And I've been told by some people that they didn't get a notice when the last chapter went up, so if it's been longer than the end of September since you saw an update for this, go back and read that too.

How about that new 2.8 trailer, huh?

Chapter 11: Forgiveness and Trust

Shibuya didn't seem to get any less crowded the further they moved from the crossing, and they moved pretty far. By the time those kids had led them to a towering record building, Lea's feet were already aching. And that wasn't even the end of it, apparently they still had a park to go through before reaching this guy who knew how to get in touch with Joshua. Cissnei beside him honestly didn't look too happy either, but not as visibly bitter about the walk as Lea. He couldn't help but wonder what was going through her head.

Whoever this guy is, he better actually be able to help, Lea mentally grumbled. I don't want to walk out to the ass-end of this city for a false lead.

At least one of them was taking it in stride, though. In front of Lea, Aqua was chatting animatedly with Rhyme, though he couldn't quite make out what it was about. Still, it said a lot about her that she was able to keep a smile when one of her friends was still missing. Or maybe it said more about Rhyme, to get Aqua to be like that in this situation. Lea hadn't been around these kids nearly long enough to get a good grasp on them, but Rhyme certainly seemed to have that kind of 'friend to everyone' air about her, not unlike Sora.

As for the rest of her group of friends, well, Beat hung back behind Rhyme but in front of Lea and Cissnei. Probably intentionally, because he had looked uncomfortable when Aqua moved up to speak to Rhyme. The overprotective big brother type, then. He honestly didn't seem like that kind of person, because everything else about him screamed punk kid from the streets—or maybe that was the façade he was trying to put up for himself? To seem strong? Or maybe Lea was looking too into things. He hadn't known this kid for even one day yet.

Leading the procession were the other two, Neku and Shiki. Shiki looked like a real shrinking violet from what Lea could tell. The kind of girl who completely lacked confidence and would bend over if you looked at her mean, kind of like Naminé had before toughening up. But well, that's only what Shiki looked like. Her personality was a complete clash to her appearance; she was the one leading the group along, not Neku, and was also bantering back and forth with Neku with a smile on her face. Though all that said, he noticed the way she nervously clung to the stuffed cat that had previously been attached to her bag, like it was her lifeline. Either the cheerful personality was all an act, or—and Lea found this more likely—she had more insecurities than she let on.

As for Neku… Lea had trouble with this kid. Neku was unreadable. He hid his face behind his high collar and his ears behind his headphones. The only time anyone was able to get a word in with him was when he wanted it. And while he wasn't outright hostile, nor could he even be called unfriendly exactly, there was this sort of air about him whenever someone brought up Joshua. Otherwise he seemed like an ordinary somewhat broody teen, but whenever Lea asked how much further to Josh he seemed to pull inward.

Just what were they getting into going after this guy?

Questions for later, because Shiki assured Lea it wasn't too much further. They were passing under some raised tracks, high-speed trains zooming passed them overhead. On the other side was a park with a name utterly unpronounceable to Lea, 'Meashitaia' or something like that. He didn't really care. It looked nice though, for a park in the middle of an urban sprawl anyway. It was like someone plopped down a bunch of trees in the middle of a parking lot, but it worked. Some kids were riding skateboards in a nearby pit, and Lea spotted a rock climbing wall across the way.

"Once we leave Miyashita it's just a little bit further to Cat Street," Shiki said from up front.

Lea looked around as they left the park behind. The buildings were growing smaller and the streets more narrow, but the sense of them being in some city-sized shopping district never really left, the shops were just smaller now. Some of them looked like the owners lived on the second floor of the buildings, above the shops. It was kind of quaint, but the skyline could never hide that they were still in the middle of a city. And—Lea grunted in annoyance as he and Cissnei dodged a chatty couple—the crowds still weren't a small town's crowds, even if it was empty in comparison to the crossing.

The Shibuya gang came to a stop, and Lea almost kept on walking because the building they stopped in front of was so innocuous. There was a single white table outside, a large tree shading the front, a chalkboard stand menu at their feet, and a sign identifying the place as WildKat, fittingly enough for a shop on Cat Street. It honestly could have been any of the numerous cafés and little shops that they had passed on their way here. Lea hadn't known what he was expecting.

"Joshua is in here?" Aqua asked.

Rhyme shook her head. "No, like Neku said we don't know where Joshua is right now. But the owner of WildKat is a friend of ours, and he can get in touch with him."

"You don't have this guy's number or something?"

Shiki had a small smile. "He's a bit harder to get in touch with than that."

Lea shrugged. "Well whatever you say. Lead the way, then."

Neku pushed open the door, jingling a small bell that signaled their arrival. The inside of WildKat was similarly innocuous, looking like any coffee shop where teenagers would hang out. Lea even recalled spending some time at one almost identical to this with Isa back in the old days. There were both booths and circular tables with cushioned chairs scattered around, a ceiling fan was spinning slowly, and a coffee machine sat behind the counter where a few pastries were on display and a chalkboard had the specialty of the day written in messy handwriting. It was completely normal, aside from the part where it was completely empty.

"We come in on his day off or something?" Lea deadpanned as he worked his way inside. Not that he actually thought that; the door was open and the lights were on, after all.

Beat walked behind the counter and peered into a back room. "Yo, Mr. H! You in here?"

"No need to yell, Beat, I'm here." Heads turned to the other end of the story, where a lanky man who needed a shave sat up from one of the booth's seats. He rubbed his eyes then stopped and stared at the group—more specifically at Lea, Cissnei, and Aqua. "Well now… This is interesting." Flipping on a pair of sunglasses that had been hooked to his collar, the black-haired man climbed to his feet and held a hand out to the nearest of the trio, that being Cissnei. "Hey there, miss. You all new around here?"

Cissnei paused before taking his hand and giving it a quick shake. "Uh, yeah, we are. Um…?"

"Oh, where are my manners! The name's Sanae Hanekoma. Born March third, blood type A. I'm a Pisces and one hip café barista, mista." He smirked, his eyes shining behind his sunglasses.

Lea grumbled under his breath and scratched his head with the other hand on his hip. This was the guy that Neku and the others said would help? Nah, couldn't be. There had to be someone else in the back room.

Aqua had similar concerns. "Mr. Hanekoma—"

"Ah!" Hanekoma held up a hand. "Sorry, sorry. Mr. Hanekoma was my father. My friends call me Mr. H."

Aqua nodded slowly. "Okay, Mr. H. My name is Aqua, and my friends here are Cissnei and Lea. We came here because we were told you could help us find Joshua…?"

For an instant, something changed in Hanekoma's eyes. Without his body budging an inch his gaze shifted toward Neku and the others, where the redhead shrugged. "Sora sent them."

"Spikes did…?" And then just like that, Hanekoma's lighter air was back as if it had never gone. "Well! Looking for Josh, is it?" He fell back into a chair and motioned for the others to sit down. "Tell me what's up."

Lea moved to sit across from Hanekoma, but Aqua beat him to it. In one swift motion Aqua pulled a chair across from him and sat down in it, while giving him a hard look as if trying to read him. And Lea had to admit, Hanekoma was…different, to be sure. With his casual outfit and laid-back expression, it was very hard to believe that this guy could get in contact with someone apparently capable of restoring the lost, especially if that lost person was completely stripped from memory. Yet Lea hadn't failed to notice the way Hanekoma's expression had changed when they mentioned Joshua, nor the gleam that still existed behind his sunglasses. He was trying to figure them out just as much as they were him.

"I'm going to be frank," Aqua said, pulling all of Hanekoma's attention on her. "Sora told us that Joshua can help us find our missing friends."

Hanekoma raised an eyebrow. "Plural?"

"Both mine and Lea's, yes. We arrived separately but both of us were sent by Sora. His is a girl who he can't even remember, and mine is a boy who I have no idea how to find."

Hanekoma let out a breath and seemed to shrink back into his seat. "That's…rough. I'm not gonna lie, that's real rough." He rubbed the back of his neck and looked around the room in thought. "So yeah, it's pretty opposite of standard, but I can probably get in contact with Joshua for you."

Lea let relief wash over him and he practically fell back into his chair. "Thanks so much, man. You don't know what a relief it is to finally be getting somewhere with this."

Hanekoma visibly hesitated. "…Don't go ahead thanking me yet, Flamesilocks." Lea mentally grumbled at the nickname, but was more focused on the sudden pit in his stomach as Hanekoma sat up straighter. "I can get Joshua down here, but I can't promise anything more than that because that's where my job ends. He's the one who's helping from then on and I don't know what he will or won't be able to do."

Lea let out a breath. Of course… He watched as Aqua wrapped her fingers around her blue charm, then felt someone place a hand on his shoulder. Cissnei was giving him a hard look, one which Lea didn't have any trouble reading. He relaxed again, but not as much as before, and looked to Hanekoma with a nod. "Thanks, Mr. H. Really."

"No problem, my man. Losing memories? We've been there." His gaze flickered over to Neku and the others, and Lea could sense something left unsaid hanging in the air. But then Hanekoma once again seemed to completely brush it aside, and that spark was back in his eyes while a grin was painted on his face. "Anyway, Joshua can't just pop in in a heartbeat. You should hit the town, see the sights. Shibuya has a lot to offer for first-timers."

Lea frowned, and he felt his brow crease. "I'm not sure—"

"Actually, that sounds kind of good to me." With surprise, Lea looked over to Aqua. Beside him, Cissnei was nodding.

"We can't do anything right now anyway, right?" She asked when Lea stared at her. "Just got to wait for Joshua to show up. At least this way it'll be faster."

Shiki, who'd been chatting with Rhyme quietly against the far wall, suddenly turned to face the group. "We'd be happy to show you around! And I promise we won't go far."

With three women against him, Lea knew it was already a lost fight. He groaned. "Alright then. I guess you win."

x-x-x

Well, maybe Shibuya wasn't all bad.

They didn't travel too far from WildKat, though they did go somewhat back toward the more densely packed and taller buildings part of Shibuya. They looked around at some stores, were introduced to a game called Tin Pin, and grabbed a bite at this place where Neku seemed to know all the employees personally. There was even sea-salt ice cream. So yeah, not all bad.

Though Lea found his favorite treat hard to finish today. He still couldn't exactly get into the mood, not with the reason they had come there weighing down on him. And to be fair, he wasn't the only one either. It was clear that Aqua and even Cissnei were trying to force it out of their minds. Not to mention it was kind of awkward since they still barely knew these kids, though at least they were all friendly enough.

"So, think Mr. H has got in touch with Joshua yet?"

Lea stood with Neku and Beat in front of a red phone booth. He hadn't thought phone booths even existed anymore. Shiki and Rhyme had taken Aqua and Cissnei into a nearby clothing store, leaving the three of them waiting around as they wasted time before heading back to WildKat. Lea tossed his half-finished ice cream into a trash with a grimace on his face. Friendly or not, this waiting was really starting to kill him. Shibuya had so many clothing shops, he'd kill for a store that fit him more to get his mind off of things.

Neku was messing around on his phone and answered Lea's question without looking up. "I wouldn't be surprised if he has, but Joshua would still need to come down too. We should start working our way back to Cat Street though."

Lea was about to get moving then and there, but Beat spoke up first. "Yo, I ain't leavin' 'til Rhyme gets back."

Lea had to stifle a groan. "This is kind of important, man."

"An' I get that, Red." Why was everyone here a nicknamer? "Really, I do. It's whack what you an' Aqua had to go through. But this is a big city, an' I already lost Rhyme once before. I ain't letting her too far from me again."

Lea's shoulders slumped, and to his side he saw Neku look up from his phone. "Trust us Lea, we're not taking this lightly and we all have had our share of problems. But we can't make a move until Joshua does."

A sigh escaped his lips as Lea leaned back against the phone booth. "This better be worth it. You guys sure are building up my expectations of this Joshua guy."

Neku smiled behind his collar. "Don't worry. You can definitely trust Josh."

"Well, if you say so…" Lea folded his arms behind his head and resorted to people-watching while they waited for the girls to finish up. As he scanned the crowds, though, something stopped him. Something very hard to miss, something that stood out even more than Aqua had back when they ran into her outside the burger place. "What the hell?" Lea jumped out of his relaxed stance, his shoulders raised and sparks flickering at the tips of his fingers for mere moments at a time. "What is he doing here?"

There, standing a good bit taller than everyone in the crowds around him, was somebody who Lea hadn't seen, or even thought of, in nearly a year. Dressed in red and blue, with enough zippers to make Neku jealous, he was not only taller than all of Shibuya's citizens but wider than them as well. And with a giant chin as big as his fists, he looked both ridiculous and imposing.

"The hell's that?" Beat asked with a raised eyebrow. "He looks even more out of place than you guys, yo."

"Pete!" Lea's shout, while not managing to halt the endless chatter of Shibuya, did drown it out for a moment. Heads turned, but true to a big city most of them didn't linger on him long, opting to go back into their own little words instead. Some did stick around though, interested to see who it was that had just called out someone across the street.

"Someone you know?" Neku asked.

"What? Who's calling me, huh?" Pete turned around, shoving aside bystanders unceremoniously. He held a hand over his forehead and peered around the area with narrowed eyes, which then bugged out comically wide when he finally caught sight of Lea. "Whaa—It's YOU!"

"Just what the heck do you think you're doing here, huh?" Lea summoned one of his chakrams and swung it forward, gesturing at Pete. "It's been a long time since we ran into you or any of your friends. Maleficent's been lying low for a while, so why show up here of all places?"

"Me? Why, I should be asking you that!" Pete shouted back at him with a snarl, his finger pointing accusingly at Lea. "What brings you to this town, punk? You couldn't be looking for that shard too, now could ya?"

Lea raised a brow. "'Shard'?"

Pete paused for a moment before he began to chuckle darkly and stood up straighter. "Oh, you don't know, eh? Well in that case I'm keeping my lips sealed."

Well that was weird. Lea wasn't going to lie and pretend he wasn't a little curious now, but he mostly didn't care. "Whatever, it's not like I need a reason to send you running with your tail between your legs." It was a good thing Pete was so much taller than everyone in the slowly assembling crowds. Lea sent his chakram flying right toward Maleficent's lackey, and just as he'd been hoping it smacked him right in the face and onto his backside. At which point the crowd broke into a mixture of fear, surprise, and even interest—a fight had broken out in the middle of Shibuya!

As his weapon vanished in a flurry of embers and back into Lea's hands, Pete climbed up to his feet and wiped a hand over his face. "Oh you wanna fight, do ya? Sorry, but ol' Pete's got places to be. So I'll leave ya with this!" Pete raised his fist high above his head and it flashed with a white light. Letting out a battle cry, Pete slammed his fist onto the ground with a punch that shook the earth. Beat screamed as he fell back himself, while beside him Neku held his ground. The crowds, however, promptly took that attack as their sign to flee, running for their lives except for a brave—or maybe just stupid—few who only backed up.

"You think making some buildings shudder is enough to scare me off? Try again!" Lea darted forward with his chakram ready to strike, but before he had crossed the street to reach Pete a shadow shot out from beneath him and decked him in the chin. Lea stumbled back and, no longer right up close to the one who sucker-punched him, found himself facing an Aerial Knocker.

Beat's voice sounded behind Lea. "Yo, what the hell is that? Noise in the RG?!"

"That's one of those Heartless things that Luxord guy was using when Sora was here!" Neku corrected him.

Lea wordlessly struck down the Heartless and then looked around for more. But there were none, so what…? "Damn it!" He spun around and spotted Pete running down the street. "Get back here!"

"Later, loser!" Pete taunted. Lea raised his chakram, ready to throw, but someone beat him to the punch. Rays of light flew over his shoulder, and Pete looked back behind him with just enough time for his eyes to bug out before the Shotlock slammed right into him. As Pete was sent flying and crashed into the pavement face-first, Aqua and Cissnei ran up to join Lea.

"About time, you two!"

"Sorry, Shiki's pretty adamant about shopping." At Aqua's words Lea looked back over his shoulder just to reassure himself that Rhyme and Shiki were safe with Beat and Neku. When that was affirmed, he turned back to Pete who had climbed back up to his feet.

"You weren't alone, eh?" Pete spat out some dirt.

"Pete, what in the world are you doing here?" Aqua demanded.

Pete just laughed, and then stomped his foot. "Heartless squad! Round up!"

In response to Pete's call, the shadows of the buildings in the area stretched outward and began to transform, turning three-dimensional as they bulged up from the floor. Some took color, and all from all of them emerged those familiar golden beady eyes. Lea grit his teeth as he took a step backwards from the enclosing ring of Heartless surrounding them. Soon he, Aqua, and Cissnei stood with their backs together and weapons drawn.

"Okay, guess we won't be getting answers right away."

Beside Lea, Cissnei gasped. "Pete, stop!"

Lea flicked his head around to see Pete vanish into a corridor of darkness. "Damn it, no!" But as he moved to throw his chakram and intervene in Pete's getaway, a Shadow leapt at him. Lea knocked the Heartless away easily enough, but it did its job. As he looked back toward Pete, all he saw was the corridor closing.

Aqua blasted away several Red Nocturnes at once with Blizzard magic, then spoke to Lea as she focused on a group of Shadows. "Lea, what was Pete up to?"

Lea incinerated a handful of Heartless. "Search me. He asked if I was here for some shard of something, but zipped his trap once he figured out I have no idea what that meant."

"Shard?" Cissnei repeated as she ducked under a Neoshadow's claws.

"Yeah, I have no clue—crap, the kids!" Lea spun around and sent out a wave of flame to destroy a large chunk of the Heartless surrounding them, giving him a clear view of Shiki, Neku, Rhyme, and Beat. But they were completely unharmed; terrified and confused, sure, but the Heartless were just ignoring them. They were ignoring everyone, actually, except for Lea, Aqua, and Cissnei.

"These Heartless aren't going after any civilians."

"Probably because Pete summoned them as a distraction for us," Aqua replied as she cleaved her Keyblade right through an Aerial Knocker. "Makes things easier for us, but just in case, don't let any of them slip away."

Lea ignited his weapon and grinned. "Don't need to tell me how to do my job."

Lea tossed the flaming wheel forward, then quickly summoned his second chakram and sent it out closely behind the first. The chakrams left streams of fire in their wake, spreading embers and flames across the Heartless that ate away at the shadows. A Neoshadow coated in flames shot out from the crowd at Lea with its burning claws aimed for his chest. Lea ducked down under its dive, recalled one of the chakrams back to his hand, and dug the weapon's spikes into the Neoshadow's body. The flames were sucked back into the metal, and it flashed red-hot for a moment before exploding, destroying the Neoshadow. In the wake of the explosion Lea snapped his fingers and the other chakram, still flying in circles above the other Heartless, exploded soon after.

Lea's explosions were drowning out all other sounds, but that didn't mean they weren't there. Cissnei fired her handgun as quick as she could, and when the bullets were gone she quickly swapped to her large red shuriken. She swung the weapon around as if it were a dagger, while throwing actual daggers that had been sheathed at her ankle toward Heartless that kept at a range. When the knives ran out, Cissnei tossed the shuriken toward a Blue Rhapsody that never saw it coming. The shuriken went right through it and three more before landing on the ground, at which point she dashed forward to retrieve it, nimbly dodging each Heartless that attempted to hit her. When one took a running leap, Cissnei dropped down and let momentum finish her off, sliding across the ground and picking her shuriken up in one swift motion.

"Aqua!"

Aqua spun around as Cissnei jumped toward her and brought her shuriken down like a sword on a Heartless that had nearly struck the Keyblade Master from her blind spot. Aqua, in turn, skewered a Shadow that had been pursuing Cissnei. With Stormfall glowing with a bright light, Aqua sent a series of Shotlocks flying all around the busy street, then while the streams of light were busy piercing Heartless after Heartless she jumped into the air with a graceful spin. Aqua held her free hand out and spears if ice formed from a Blizzaga spell manifested in a circle around her, then rained down upon the Heartless. As Aqua dropped down to the ground she slashed her Keyblade through the air, sending out a shockwave that wrapped up the stragglers.

After the trio had caught their breath, Lea heard the sound of footsteps behind them. Neku and his friends ran up to them, concern on all their faces. Rhyme was the first to speak, asking worriedly, "What were those Noise?"

"Heartless," Neku corrected. "Shiki and I dealt with them before, when Sora was here."

"Yo, this is whack! How're we supposed ta fight them if we're not in the UG?"

"UG?" Aqua asked.

Shiki sighed. "Underground. It's a long story, but all you need to know is that the four of us don't have any way to help you against the Heartless and, um…"

"Pete," Lea filled in, answering her unasked question. "His name's Pete, and he works for a witch named Maleficent. No idea what he was doing here, but I doubt he's gone."

Neku slid his hands into his pockets. "Plenty of places in Shibuya for people to hide, even someone his size. In the meantime though, we should head back. The Heartless being back is something Mr. H and Joshua need to hear."

"Lead the way."

x-x-x

When they returned to WildKat, the bell ringing as they opened the door, Lea was glad to see that Mr. H wasn't there alone. What he wasn't expecting, though, was the person sitting at one of the tables and talking to Mr. H. He had pale blond hair and a grey button-up shirt. The two of them turned to look at the group, showing the stranger's smug, even knowing grin on a face too young to be making such an expression. This was Joshua? The person who had so much power? He was just a kid!

Neku stepped around Lea, who still stood in the doorway, and approached the table. "Josh, good to see you."

Joshua flipped some of his hair and Lea could swear he heard a giggle come out of the kid's mouth. "Hello, Neku. How long the days without you have felt."

Lea rolled his eyes. "Look, sorry to interrupt the reunion and all, but we kind of have important things to talk about."

Joshua moved his attention from Neku to the others. "You must be Lea, then. And I assume your lady friends are Cissnei and Aqua?"

Aqua nodded. "It's nice to meet you Joshua, but Lea's right—we need to talk."

"Of course, Hanekoma has already—"

"Not about that," Lea interrupted. Then, quickly, he added, "Well no. Yes, that too, but first we have a more immediate problem. An enemy of ours who commands the Heartless is on your world!"

"Oh, him." Joshua shrugged. "Pete, right? He seems so…brutish."

Lea felt his eyes widen. "You knew?"

"Of course. Nothing happens in Shibuya that I don't know about." Another giggle from him, another flip of his hair. "Plus, he's not exactly the most subtle person in the world."

Neku raised an eyebrow. "You're freakishly calm about this guy, Joshua."

"Why worry? I know that our companions will handily contain the situation. Consider it…payment, for my services." Then, something about Joshua seemed to falter. He let out a sigh, and his smug grin vanished to be replaced by an irritated frown—but not directed at them. He seemed irritated at himself. "Or you could call it payment, if I were actually able to help."

The words blew the life right out of Lea like he had just been punched in the gut. With a horrified expression, and Aqua and Cissnei not looking much better. "What...?" he breathed out. Lea grit his teeth and stepped forward. "What did you just say?"

Joshua, still seated in his chair, looked up at Lea and met him in the eyes. Though the smugness was gone, the obnoxious look the kid was giving him ticked him off, and he immediately pulled a one-eighty from shocked to pissed. "What the hell? What the actual hell?!" Lea grabbed Joshua by the collar of his shirt and pulled him up to eye level. "We come all this way, wait all this time, and you won't help us?!"

"Lea-" Cissnei started to move toward him, but Aqua grabbed her shoulder to stop her. Her own face betrayed her emotions on this matter, but unlike Lea she still seemed in the shocked stage. Her brow ruffled in confusion, too.

Joshua, for his part, was unwaveringly calm about this whole thing. Damn this kid, that just pissed Lea off even more. "I won't help you because I can't help you, Lea."

"What?"

"I. Can't. Help." Joshua raised his hands and pulled himself free of Lea's grip, then fixed the collar of his shirt as he continued to speak. "My power only extends to Shibuya. I can only revive the dead if they died in Shibuya—not to mention participate in the Reaper's Game."

"I don't know or care what any of you're saying means. Are you telling me that this trip was a waste of time?"

"Of course not. I can still assist in your search, I just can't bring your friend back."

Aqua, hope shining in her blue eyes, stepped forward. "Please, elaborate. We'll take anything you can give us."

"Unfortunately Aqua, your friend is still technically 'alive' even if his body is gone, so I am actually no help on that subject. I am truly sorry." He didn't sound sorry one bit.

Aqua sighed and her shoulders slumped, but she looked up after a moment. "But Lea's?"

Joshua brought his hand up to his mouth as he drudged up his thoughts, seemingly trying to find a way to word whatever it was. Lea watched him with bated breath, and ready to go back at him if he gave him a crap answer. "Her situation is more…complicated. I can sense a sort of residual energy in the Realm of Light, permeating everything all around us. I think—I think what happened is that someone…gathered up remnants of her heart, pieces of her dreams that had been lost to darkness. But the energy I feel is only a lingering sentiment. Whoever did this, they and your friend's dreams are no longer in the Realm of Light."

Then the Realm of Darkness? Lea shook his head; no, right now he had other questions, he could worry about the where later. "What do you even mean by 'pieces of her dreams'? And if your powers are limited to this world then how can you be so sure about this?"

"Because I recognize that kind of energy that's permeating the Realm of Light, because I have experience with it," Joshua said bluntly. "With retrieving lost hearts from the darkness." Lea didn't miss the way his eyes flickered over to Neku, Shiki, Beat, and Rhyme—and neither did they.

Mr. H cleared his throat. "Hey Josh, ixnay on the arknessday."

But Neku stood up straight. "No. This is something we want to hear."

Joshua looked over at Neku and the others from Shibuya, who were all giving him hard gazes with varying degrees of worry mixed in. "I suppose this has been a long time coming," he said softly, more to himself than to them. With his hands in his back pockets, Joshua looked up at the ceiling as if remembering something.

"A year ago, a Keyblade wielder in a black mask appeared and unlocked the Keyhole that Sora had sealed. The Heartless arrived and there was little anyone could do nor much time for me to react. Shibuya didn't stand a chance, and our world's heart was consumed with everyone flung into the darkness." When Joshua paused and was met only by silence, he continued. "Everyone but me, with my power as the Composer keeping me safe. But I couldn't accept that. Call it selfish, but I had friends I couldn't just abandon.

"So I reached into the darkness and gathered up what remained, the very last pieces of their dreams. I looked for a place to give them refuge. Traverse Town appeared before me and—imagine my surprise—something about that world made their dreams real. They had bodies, they had forms. Interacting with other people, it made them real again…and none of them realized what had happened.

"So I know what I'm talking about, Lea. I can feel the same sort of energy permeating this realm as I could when I did that. After whatever happened to make your friend disappear, someone—who it is, I can't help you with—gathered up what remained. But unlike me, they didn't remain in the Realm of Light. And I have no idea where they could have gone."

Lea's anger at this kid evaporated away as he spoke, replaced by an empty nothingness. He didn't know what it was: overwhelmed? Horrified? Either way, his legs gave out beneath him and he collapsed into a chair. "So she's…" His voice left him. He didn't even know what he was trying to say. Lea felt more than saw Cissnei approach him and rest a comforting hand on his shoulder, but he didn't respond to her touch.

"Lea…" Aqua nearly whispered. "If it worked for them, then that means she's out there somewhere. Right?" Lea didn't respond, but…yeah. Somewhere. Somewhere beyond any normal world. Without any leads.

And then the sorrowful silence of WildKat was swiftly interrupted by Neku delivering a punch to Joshua's face, sending the so-called Composer of Shibuya toppling to the ground, his chair crashing next to him with a thunderous clatter.

"Neku!" Shiki gasped.

Beat stomped his foot. "Phones, what the hell!"

"You son of a bitch." Neku glared down at Joshua, his entire body shaking in anger but tears welling in his eyes. "Shibuya was gone—our friends and family were gone—and you didn't think to tell us that so were we?!"

Joshua pressed a hand to his swelling cheek and stared up at Neku with a bewildered expression unlike any that had been seen on his face so far. Mr. H stood up looking ready to tell Neku off, but one look from Joshua sat him back down. When Joshua didn't speak, however, Neku continued.

"All of us were terrified. We spent every goddamn day in Traverse Town wondering why only we survived. Why only we were lucky enough, when no one else was. Guilt gnawed at us twenty four-seven. And it was all because of you, and you never had the decency what had happened! After all that we have been through together, after the whole spiel about trusting your partner, you didn't even trust us with knowledge concerning us!"

"Neku-"

"Shut up. I don't want to listen to you." Neku turned around, leaving Joshua on the floor. "You thought we were friends? Friends open up with each other, Joshua! They tell each other what they're thinking!

We're not friends, Joshua."

Neku stormed out into the streets, slamming the door behind him.