Castle Oblivion

"You are ready to go, Ichigo?"

Axel carried his bag, waiting for the orange haired teenager to answer his question. Ichigo was ready to go too, holding a traveling bag.

"Yeah. How far is the place?"

"We aren't traveling through the conventional way," said Axel. "We are going through a portal of darkness. We will be there in an instant."

"Wha-" Before Ichigo could move, Axel snapped his fingers. A portal of darkness opened, and without hesitation, Axel ran to the portal. Ichigo followed hesitantly, as if wary of the red haired man's intentions. Before Ichigo knew it, he found himself in a white room.

He was not alone. A man with pink hair appeared next to him.

"Hello there, Ichigo. I am Marluxia, the man responsible for this castle." He smiled, with petals surrounding him. Axel appeared, looking bored.

"So, Marluxia, what is the mission?" asked Ichigo.

"Well, first off, we have to test the keyblade wielder and see if his power can help us. Next, we have to collect data on the boy and his memories, since it could hold the key to nobodies being human."

Ichigo looked confused. Axel explained, "Well, as you might have learned, there are heartless and nobodies. This kid turned into a heartless, but ended up turning back into a human. The-"

"That's enough, Axel." Marluxia looked tense, and Axel silenced himself. Ichigo, however, was able to put the pieces together.

"So, Roxas is..."

"Well, quite clever!" A girl's voice appeared from no where. She entered, smiling as lightning surrounded her.

"So, Larxene, you decided to come along?" said Axel.

"Don't you start," retorted Larxene. "Anyways, the other three are down in the basement."

"Excellent." Marluxia smiled. "Anyways, Ichigo, as you can tell, Roxas has barely any memories of Sora. I believe that Sora's time as a heartless is the reason for this. So now, we need to experiment with him."

"How do you experiment with memories?" asked Ichigo.

"Well..." Axel pointed to a desk. Ichigo was surprised, having never seen the desk in the room. There was a girl, dressed in white, with a notebook and crayons.

"She is Namine. A nobody that can manipulate memories."

"With crayons?" asked Ichigo.

"That seems to be her favorite way of doing it," said Larxene.

Ichigo was tempted to greet her, but before he can do so, Larxene pointed her finger at him.

"I still don't see how you could be powerful at all. You act like a clown, and you-"

"Settle down, Larxene." Marluxia moved her finger away from Ichigo. "If you want to see proof of his fighting skills, we will test it later. Anyways, we have to do other things, remember?"

Larxene nodded, glaring at Ichigo. Ichigo remained calm, not caring about the situation at all. She and Marluxia left, leaving Axel and Ichigo.

"Sorry about Larxene...she's just pretentious."

"Is she in love with Marluxia?"

Axel was taken back by Ichigo's words. Namine, startled, stared at Ichigo.

"What are you saying? Nobodies don't have feelings-"

"Then explain how she is pretentious."

Axel smiled, realizing that Ichigo had a point. "Well, maybe. Look, I need to talk to you about something else."

"What else is there to this mission?" asked Ichigo.

"You see, Xemnas used to be a researcher. Before that, though, he did not remember who he was."

"He had amnesia?" asked Ichigo.

"Yes. Anyways, there is a room here that he is searching for. In case you find it, go straight to Xemnas."

"Ok."

"Now, you want to drink something and enjoy a game of card?"

"Sure...but, do you mind if-"

"If we play with Namine?" Axel smiled, holding a pack of cards. "Well, why not?"

Namine looked down until Ichigo approached her. "Hello, my name is Ichigo. How do you do?"

"Fine." She looked sad, but lightened up as Ichigo and Axel sat next to her.

"Time to play poker!"

"We had poker chips?!"

"You have cash?! You know what, never mind. Namine has no money."

The three played the game, laughing as it progressed. As the game was at its climax, Larxene interrupted by destroying the drinks.

"Hey!" Axel got up, pissed that his drinks were gone.

"You can't play with the witch!" cried Larxene. Namine put her head down. Ichigo felt anger rise up in him.

"Take that back."

"Oh?" Larxene stared down Ichigo until Marluxia appeared. "Larxene, not now."

Again, Larxene backed off. She left with Marluxia, leaving Ichigo and Axel.

"Poor girl, right?" said Axel. "C'mon, we have to go set our rooms up."

Axel carried his bag and left. Ichigo looked at Namine one more time before heading to his room, feeling guilt for what he didn't do.