Do you remember, Hinode?

Everything was dark. Pitch black; a mist of bleak nothing in the deepest hues. But only after a few moments, the pitch faded away into the nothingness it was…

Sora blinked, groaning, opening his eyes sleepily. He had just walked through the dark portal, and it was unlike any other he'd ever been through. It was like the blackness was seeping into him, awakening him, and the deepness at the same time was lulling him to sleep.

Immediately Sora realized he was in Halloween Town. What use was it to lure Saix here? And what did it have to do with sunrise?

Sora heard footsteps behind him and spun around to see his two companions. They, like him, were dressed in Halloween attire. He had his usual black suit with his pumpkin hat-thing. As for the others:

Roxas looked really creepy. Black make-up outlined his eyes all around, and made him look sleepy. His shirt had a large skull on it, a metal thing connected to straps that criss-crossed over his jacket shirt. Underneath was his bare chest. His pants were held up with a rusty belt that had a pumpkin latch. The pants were jeans, ripped, with scratches and deep red stains, and were ripped at the ends, ending under the knees. On the corner of the left side of the jeans, crooked under the pocket, was a skull on fire. His shoes were black, curled up, and with black bobbles on top. His hair was blackish at the tips.

As for the gambler, he was pretty creepy himself. While Roxas' theme was skulls, Luxord's theme was crosses. A cross necklace hung low around his neck, over his white stained shirt. It was ripped at the shoulders, and his lower arms were covered in straps that criss-crossed over and over until they reached his hands and went around his fore fingers. The shirt was tucked into his black puffy jeans. Heavy rusty chains that went to his knees and met at the crotch had a large cross over them at the zipper. A bandage was over his eye as if it was injured, and he had fangs. Make-up was only under his eyes, making him look tired. The shoes were black and blue copies of Roxas' shoes.

"Where are we?" Roxas pondered. Before Sora could respond, Luxord beat him to it.

"Halloween Town. Lovely, isn't it?" Luxord mused with a smug grin. Sora rolled his eyes playfully before turning around to look behind him.

This wasn't the Halloween Town Sora knew.

He suddenly realized it was much different from the place Sora had visited. It looked the same, mostly, but bombs were being shot off in the sky, everyone was running around in a panic, and some of the buildings were in ruin.

Just as Sora was absorbing the world around him, a bomb slammed into the ground ahead of them, ripping Dr. Finkelstein's (Or what Sora thought was) lab, and sending debris flying. He ducked immediately, cowering down, but the rocks just passed through him.

Looking back, Sora saw that the others were impervious to the shower of stone as well, standing in the ruckus oblivious.

"This isn't Halloween Town." Roxas muttered to the other two. "This is a memory of it. That's why the passage here was so weird. We were leaping into someone else's memory." Sora gawked at the blonde haired boy, who, with a determined look, commanded his comrades.

"Come on! We have to find Saix!" He declared. Remembering the Luna Diviner, Sora nodded in agreement, and with a final look back at Luxord for good measure, Roxas started down the road, his two friends in tow.

Getting into the Graveyard didn't take long, but it was demolished, as if the graves had never existed. Looking across the way was the hill (the curly tipped one), and upon it was… Saix?

The boy looked just like Saix, but was so much smaller than him. He had his hair style and color, along with eye color, but the scar over his nose was not there. His clothing was different; he looked like some sort of gypsy. A long silky, thin sheet went over his shoulders and around his neck, and well… I'll just let you imagine the rest.

Sora screamed Saix name over the stream of bomb explosions, running past Roxas to catch up to the boy. Perhaps it was Saix in Halloween Town form?

Sora ran up the hill to Saix, reaching up to touch him on the shoulder. Just as he did, his hand went right through, and Sora toppled through Saix and rolled off the hill with a "thud". With a chuckle, Luxord sped around the hill, watching the disgruntled key bearer get to his feet.

"I guess it's not Saix." Sora mumbled as Luxord shook his head. The two stepped back to Roxas, who was standing at the edge of the hill, watching the mini Saix.

Slowly and surely, the Saix clone raised his hands to reach up to the sky. It was a weird sight, watching a little boy stretch his hands out to the ocean of stars. But it looked so like something Saix would do… Sora was snapped out of his reverie when he heard someone yelling.

"Sai!" A young female voice called. The three friends turned back to see a young girl, also dressed in gypsy like clothing, running towards the hill. She ran through the three, and straight up to the boy she called Sai.

"Sai, they're here. They're gonna destroy everything! We've got to leave!" Sai didn't answer the distraught girl. She sighed heavily, eyes full of sorrow as she continued. "He'll destroy this world if we don't leave!" She cried, tears at her eyes. Wiping them away with her sleeve, she mumbled. "I don't want my friends to die."

The boy named Sai let his arms fall gently to his sides, sighing slightly as he began to turn around.

"Let's go." He declared monotone, and the girl's eyes lit up. She nodded, wiping her eyes again fiercely, and the boy walked down and took her hand.

"Sai?" She asked, stopping. He stood ahead of her, still holding her hand, and looking to her slightly.

The young girl reached into her pocket and dug in, searching in it.

"I know this is what he wants. I've know it since I found it that day, back home. But I want you to have it." She whispered, smiling up at him.

"So that you'll never forget your Sunrise." The boy named Sai's eyes went wide, as he let go of her hand and turned around. The girl looked to her pocket and pulled something out, her hand wrapped tightly around it. Taking his hand, she let it fall into his palm.

"Are you sure?" Sai asked quietly, looking up to her. She nodded, a small smile gracing her lips.

Suddenly, an enormous bomb crashed nearby, sending the two children flying. Sai quickly wrapped his arms around the girl, moving them so that they both landed on his back.

"SAI!" The girl yelled, getting off of him immediately, kneeling next to him. The boy leapt to his feet, and turned to the girl.

"Leave, now. And don't look back." To Sora's surprise, the girl didn't try to tell him no. She nodded sullenly, and with one last long look to Sai, she turned and leapt away with amazing grace and speed.

Sai clutched strongly to the item in his hand. With a cold, determined look, he sauntered forward to the hill.

A beam of light, small, long towards the sky, and light blue with sparkles floated on the end of the hill. Saix stood at the end of the hill, next to Sora and the others, looking up to the beam of light as someone stepped from it.

The man was tall and well built, but covered in a black organization cloak and hood.

"Is that Xemnas?" Sora asked. Luxord shook his head.

"I would recognize him. That's not him." He stated with confidence. Sora nodded, looking back to the man.

"Why should I?" Sai asked. Sora blinked. The hooded man hadn't said anything. "Why do you want this, -----?" Suddenly, everything began fading, blurring, and turning black and white. The area fizzed, and then reverted back, back to "Why should-" then skipping forward to "this, ----?" when it fizzed out the man's name again. The world around them faded away into the same bleak nothingness it was before.

"What was that?" Sora asked, looking to his comrades. Their clothes were still those of someone in Halloween town.

"I guess whoever's memory it was lost their memory from there. Otherwise, we would've kept going." Roxas answered. He knew all to well about memory.

"We never found Saix. Whatever happened to him?" Luxord pondered.

"You don't think… it was a trap? A set up, to get Saix?" Sora whispered. Luxord shook his head.

"Unlikely." Was his blunt reply.

Someone was walking up to the three. All Sora could hear was his footsteps in the dark. Suddenly, the three's clothes went back to normal.

Saix appeared behind the group, sullen yet cold, looking each person over.

"So what was that?" Sora asked, relaxing and placing his hands behind his head. Saix was staring intently at the black ground.

"A memory. One I had forgotten." Sora stopped relaxing immediately.

"So that was you!" Roxas murmured, looking to Luxord. The gambler looked less shocked, but more curious.

"Yes." Saix nodded. "Back when I was human. When I was named: 'Sai'." Sora nodded sullenly.

"So… now what do we do?" Sora asked, shrugging. Saix shrugged as well.

"I guess we find the end of this place." Luxord said.

"What was that for?" Roxas interrupted. "So we saw Saix's childhood. What did it tell us? All it accomplished for me was confusion!" Sora sighed and turned to his other.

"We need to get back to Auron. We did as we were told: now he'll give us the clue. Maybe that'll help." Sora shrugged half-heartedly.

"Looking for me?" A deep voice came. Sora spun around, trying to pierce the darkness, when from behind Saix, came Auron.

"Well, you're on top of things." Luxord joked. Auron nodded with a sly smirk.

"So are you. Done with three hours to spare from sunrise. Now, for your clue."

Auron spun around quickly and thrust his arm out, pointing far away towards an unseen horizon.

"Follow the way to dawn and over the tide. At the end of the day you'll see the sun is on your side. Through the mist of hate and despair, you'll find Sunrise awaiting you there." Auron finished.

"Sunrise again?" Sora complained, stomping his feet. "What's with that?" Auron sent an amused look towards Saix.

"Why don't you ask him?" He stated, turning around to walk away, disappearing in the dark.

Follow the Way to Dawn and over the tide. At the end of the Day you'll see the Sun is on your side. Through the mist of hate and despair, you'll find Sunrise awaiting you there.

"Well, what are we waiting for?" Someone spoke. "Auron pointed that way when he said it, so that must be the way to go. If not, the Way to Dawn will lead us. It has to have something to do with the riddle, so it must be useful."

"Who is there?" Saix muttered emotionlessly. Sora grinned smugly as a white haired teen walked out of the dark.

"Riku!"