Note from forevermagik13: Alas! The long-awaited Joseph's Adventures in Twilight Town! (The wrong one, that is.) Rarmaster and I worked pretty much together on this. I am now severely laughing at Riku and Namine. And I don't even think I can pick which Riku and Namine it is...

Note from rarmaster: all i have to say is: "yeah sure, whatever!" oh my gosh... just... wow dude. Wow.

Note from forevermagik13 (again): Oh, I've checked over my profile and all the links on it and nothing seems to be virus-ridden.

"Can I go get ice cream?" Joseph asked, tugging on 29's cloak.

"Not now Joseph, I'm busy," 29 replied, waving him off.

"But everyone's busy," Joseph whined.

29 sighed, rubbing his head. There were no longer enough people to keep going with Joseph on his daily runs to Twilight Town. "Fine, you can go on your own, just you need to ask permission before you go anywhere, got it?"

"Okay!" Joseph laughed, running off.

"6 doesn't count!" 29 called after him.

xx

Sometime shortly later

"Are you sure you're okay?"Riku asked.

Namine sighed and shook her head in disbelief. "Riku, I've told you a million times already, I'm fine."

"I'm just worried," Riku muttered. "This is the third meltdown you've had this week."

"I'm fine, honestly," Namine said.

The door opened. "Hey Riku, I'm going to Twilight Town!" someone called.

"Yeah sure, whatever," Riku replied.

The door closed.

"Was that Joseph?" Namine asked.

"Probably," Riku shrugged.

Namine just laughed.

xx

Joseph stepped out of the dark corridor and paused. Something was off. He glanced around. It sure looked like Twilight Town. It just didn't quite feel like Twilight Town.

His doubts about Twilight Town were quickly pulled to a halt as he noticed someone.

It was Axel.

Not often I see him here, Joseph mused. Maybe I'll buy him a-

His thoughts about Axel were stopped faster than his doubts about Twilight Town. For around the corner after Axel came someone else.

"Riku!" Joseph exclaimed in shock, now thoroughly confused. "What is he- and why is he- I mean, he was- and- but he's- what!"

This didn't make sense at all. Why would Riku be in Twilight Town, if Joseph had just seen him in Castle Oblivion, talking to Namine. Riku wouldn't leave Namine that randomly, nor would they both just randomly decide to get ice cream. And that didn't explain Axel, or why he and Riku were talking so avidly. Well, not avidly, but definitely more than he had ever seen them talk before.

He was confused even more when Sora walked around the corner. Now, that wasn't quite that odd, but he was talking to Axel a lot, too. And from what Joseph knew, they had never met. And even if they had… why would they go Twilight Town together? This was just-

Wait! Was that-

Joseph frowned, and shook his head. For a second he could have sworn he had seen Roxas.

There was another person who followed after them. It was a redheaded girl. Joseph didn't know this girl. However, by the way her and Sora were talking to each other he could assume this girl was Kairi, who Sora had mentioned back home.

However, wherever he was now, this certainly wasn't home.

Despite being slightly freaked out by this, Joseph figured he'd investigate. Perhaps he had been hanging around Vexen Replicas too much, but he did want to find out more about these people.

xx

Meanwhile, Sora, Riku, Kairi and Axel were discussing why exactly they had come to Twilight Town in the first place.

"So, should we just look for this kid, or what?" Sora asked.

Kairi shrugged. "I don't know. I just know that he'll be here when we're here sometime. Namine said it was soon, but…"

"Hey guys!" came a chipper voice.

The four of them turned and were instantly shocked.

"My name's Joseph, what's yours?"

"Aren't you a little young to be going about giving your name out to strangers?" Axel asked.

"Uh… probably. But I've been to Twilight Town a thousand times and I've never had to worry before… except I'm pretty sure that this isn't my Twilight Town. It looks like it, but it's not right. Especially since you guys are here… I mean, you're obviously here, but you're not…"

He was met with four blank stares.

"Oh, am I rambling again?" he asked.

Everyone nodded.

"Sorry," he mumbled.

"A different Twilight Town, huh?" Sora wondered. "What if he's from Roxas' Twilight Town?"

Axel shook his head. "I think I would have seen him when I was sent in there so many times trying to get to Roxas."

"You know Roxas?" Joseph asked, his eyes going wide.

"Well, yeah," Sora said. "I mean, it's complicated…"

He tapped his forehead absentmindedly.

Joseph frowned contemplatively. "I thought I saw Roxas with you guys earlier, actually. But that's probably not possible… Roxas is… well, unless it's different here…"

"Where are you from, kid?" Axel asked.

"Castle Oblivion."

"Also not possible, at least, not the Castle Oblivion I know," Axel replied.

"This is just weird," Sora said.

Joseph's eyes went wide. "Oh my gosh!" he exclaimed. "Why didn't I think of it before? I mean, after Vexen and all. I think I'm from a parallel universe! Well, from your perspective and all. From my perspective, I'm in the parallel universe."

"I'll believe that," Riku said.

The other three looked at him in shock. Actually, Joseph looked at him in shock too. The Riku he knew was a lot more… well, less accepting about things like this. Though, that might just be Vexen.

At the blank stares he was getting, Riku just shrugged. "I've seen a lot of things over the years."

"Well, now that we've got that all straightened out," Joseph said. "How about we all eat some ice-cream. I'll buy!"

With that, Joseph ran off to the ice-cream shop.

Well, that was easier than I had expected…Namine thought.

xx

They sat on the Clock Tower a short time later, each enjoying their ice cream. Well, Axel had finished his, and Joseph was already halfway done with his own. Realizing this, Joseph frowned.

"I should have bought an extra…" he mused.

Oh Axel, always so desperate for ice cream, Roxas laughed.

Sora, however ignored him and turned to Joseph. "So what brings you here?" he asked.

"Oh, I come to Twilight Town a lot to get ice cream," Joseph explained. "I just ended up in the wrong Twilight Town on accident."

"I'd ask how you managed that," Axel said. "However, I am more curious about how you can afford to buy so many ice creams."

Joseph broke out into a grin. "Oh, I'm flat broke when it comes to munny," he said, reaching into his pocket. He produced three WINNER sticks. Axel might just have started drooling.

"However," Joseph continued. "I seem to have an abundance of WINNER sticks." He paused, looking at the three in his hand, and then dug around in his pocket for another. He did finally find one, and then handed a WINNER stick to Riku, then Sora and Kairi, and then Axel. Each thanked him, some more enthusiastically than others.

"Shouldn't someone have come with you?" Kairi asked for a moment, sounding a bit worried.

"Well, yeah," Joseph replied. "But everyone's been busy lately. Even all the people who used to take me. Saix's attacks have almost doubled, so more people are busy with that, and Riku's got too much on his plate at the moment to do anything but worry about-" Joseph paused, not finishing that sentence. "Anyway, 29 said I could start going on my own, I just have to ask permission before I can go. Which is actually a bit harder than you'd think… however, this time I asked Riku, and he was too busy talking to Namine to care about what I was saying."

That statement was met with silence.

Absolute silence.

"Wait… what?" Riku asked finally.

Joseph glanced at him, and then at everyone else, taking care to notice the various looks they were giving them. They were all definitely confused. Riku seemed freaked, Sora just seemed plain confused, Axel's jaw had dropped, and Kairi seemed a bit… distant.

"What did he just say!" Namine asked, freaking as much as Riku seemed to be. "Or did I just hear him wrong."

"No… you heard him right…" Kairi replied.

Joseph laughed nervously. "Okay, so things are quite a bit different between the universes. I will be sure to be quiet about a few other things then… just to avoid this getting awkward," Joseph said, crossing a few things off of his mental list of possible subjects to talk about. "And that's awkward for you, not so much for me. The only thing that would make this subject awkward for me would be- uhh…" He paused. "You know what? Never mind. Just… just never mind."

"Do I want to know?" Axel asked.

"No. No, you really don't," Joseph replied, shaking his head to clear it. "I can't even believe I- umm… can we change the subject?"

"Sure…" Kairi replied slowly.

"You mentioned Saix," Axel said. "Is he been as annoying in your universe as he has been in ours?"

"I bet he's been more annoying," Joseph laughed. "Though, I have no idea what Saix has done here… so…"

"Well, Saix really hasn't done more than be a pain in the…" Axel began.

But Riku cut him off. "Saix is awful, regardless," he said with a wave of his hand. "Tell me more about me and Namine."

Joseph scratched the back of his head with the hand not holding his last two bites of ice cream. "Well, it isn't really you… It's the Riku and Namine from my universe…"

"And what's different about them as opposed to us?" Riku asked.

"Well, they're Replicas, like everyone else I'm around all the time. Well… except Axel, Vexen, and Sora. But Axel's hardly around Castle Oblivion enough anymore because he can't let the Organization know that he's working against Saix. And Sora's not around anymore because he's off fighting Heartless and being epic without me, and well, Vexen is Vexen…"

"Whoa, whoa," Riku said, holding up a hand. "Stop right there, too many tangents at once, back to the point."

"Oh, sorry, right," Joseph said, trying to get himself back on track. "Riku and Namine… Riku and Namine… how do you explain Riku and Namine…"

He honestly seemed to be having problems with this.

"Well, Riku likes to think he's scary. And he is, if you're his enemy. But on the inside, he's really just a big softie."

"Like you!" Sora said, punching Riku on the arm. He didn't seem too pleased.

"And Namine… well Namine is what Riku fights for. She'd probably fight for him too, given the chance. Oh, and they like each other. It's really obvious to the rest of us, but neither of them seem to see it. Sora and I have a bet to see when they'll actually get together. But, from the looks of things, I'm gonna win."

He gave a cheesy grin.

A Namine and Riku… together…Namine muttered to herself.

"What is it you're thinking?" Kairi asked. "You're giving me a headache!"

"Oh, sorry… it's just… an interesting thought…"

"'Interesting'? Is that the only word you can give it?"

"Did you say both of them were Replicas?" Riku asked.

Joseph nodded. "Yup."

Riku thought for a moment about the replica that was once made of him. But his mind was still reeling at the words "and they like each other." His brain couldn't think much coherently after that, he was just trying to hide it.