A/N: I just checked the status for this story, and I was blown away by the status. 3,529 hits, and 807 visitors. TIME TO CELEBRATE WITH FABULOUS CUPCAKES! *throws every reviewer cupcakes* I'd like to recognize all the reviewers in order from the beginning of this story:

Reviewers to thank in order from the beginning of the story:Ru Tsuna, ValroggTheInvincible, ccsakura21, TheKeeperofKingdomHearts1, Lexincora, PyroScorpion, remixofdestiny, Taeniaea, Luxord's Xigbar, Dragonfly-Star, BellaCullen2312, Sayonara Yasashii Akumu, Bestie (A.K.A-My Best Friend), Za-Za67, xcrescentxmoonx, Kh530, simonamarie, Shattered Glass Memories, .Uchiha, opticon217, SonikPyroLover, CaliforniaLove145, Piklink, Axel fan, AmamiKazuma, Flurry of Freezing Flames, Yanza, Crescentrax, KaylatheNinja, BehindBeautifulEyes, and fictionalcharacterwish. All of you wonderful reviewers simply rock, and I hope that you'll continue to review!_

Dear diary,

Xion's been acting awfully weird lately. Roxas and I are both concerned about her, but Axel…well, I think that Axel may know something that he's not telling us, but that's just my opinion on things at the moment. I'm not entirely sure what's going on with Xion, but I'm worried.

Things are just growing stranger and stranger by the moment….

Day 255~The Longest Day~

The round room was empty, save for three members who occupied three of the chairs, those members being Xemnas, Xigbar, and Saix.

"I sent Axel to Castle Oblivion last night on short notice, to help expedite the matter we spoke of," Saix said, crossing his legs as he spoke to the other two members. "I also instructed him to clear out our facilities there. He should RTC soon."

Xemnas nodded, his face set into its usual frown. "And Namine?"

Number VII shook his head. "Still missing, sir."

Xigbar let out a small laugh. "Missing indeed. Ha ha! Wherever could she be?"

Saix looked over at II, an amused look on his face. "Why, Xigbar…It almost sounds as though you know."

"Hmph."

Xemnas ignored them both, moving onto his next question. "What else?"

"Somebody accessed our main computer without authorization." Saix said, earning a chuckle from Xigbar.

"Somebody"? Are we all gonna pretend we don't know who? Little Poppet is turning into a problem-and I think you catch my meaning."

"Nonsense. I see no problem whatsoever." Saix objected, only causing Xigbar to laugh more.

"Ha-ha! Well, no, apparently you don't!"

Saix glared at him. "Something you find amusing?"

Xigbar shook his head, a smirk settling on his face. "If people see with their hearts, Saix, then you're even blinder than the rest of us, save for Hope."

Xemnas opened his mouth again before Saix could reply. "Our plans remain unchanged. Axel, Hope, Roxas, and Xion will play the roles Kingdom Hearts has chosen for them."

"But sir, Xion…If we don't take the steps-" Saix began, only to have Xemnas cut him off.

"Take steps? How can you not see how perfect this is? Xion is marching right into the arms of destiny. The only steps we need to take are two: Watch…and wait."

"And what about Hope?" Saix asked, reminding his Superior of the pure hearted girl.

Xemnas smirked. "Keep a close eye on her. If she realizes what's going on, she'll try to stop us. If project No.i fails, then we will move on to Project Hope. And that, will certainly not be a failure."

Xion spun around slowly, surveying the large white castle as she stood in it. Suddenly, Xion fell to her knees, eyes closed, her head throbbing in pain as she recalled a memory of being here before. The sound of a dark portal opening caused her to open her eyes and stare up at a familiar face. "Axel…What are you…doing here…?"

Axel frowned. "Orders. Nothing to do with you." Axel explained, his tone sounding bitter and cold. He looked around the room. "I'm not sure what you thought you'd find in an empty place like this."

Xion glared up at him. "Don't lie to me! I know this is where I come from! The answers are here." She yelled, still holding her head.

"Weren't you given some other mission?" Axel asked, his voice loud, echoing off the walls of the large room in Castle Oblivion. He was only met with silence, only making him more frustrated. "You can't just go throw orders to the wind, Xion."

Xion looked at the floor sadly. "Or else what? They'll turn me into a Dusk?"

"Not even a Dusk. They'll skip right past that and destroy you outright." Axel said quietly.

Xion looked back up at him, her face still sad. "Because I'm useless?"

"No, I didn't say that." Axel said. Xion stood back up, and Axel's frustration returned. "Turn around and go home, Xion."

Xion completely ignored his order and spoke. "Axel, I'm remembering things…About who I was."

"Well, stop remembering. Nothing good will come out of it."

"I have dreams every night. You're in them, Axel!"

Axel shook his head. "Then they sure ain't memories. How could I be part of your past? Use your head, Xion." Axel said, his frown deepening.

"You can't fool me. We've met before, Axel. And I know I've met Hope before. I've met both of you before, right here in this castle!"

"Have not. Go home, Xion. Don't keep Roxas and Hope waiting."

Xion ignored his order once again. "Please, Axel, just…help me! I need to know who I am." With that said, she took off, running around him and ahead to the door that lead deeper into the castle.

"Hey-stop! Xion, stay out of there!" Axel yelled, mentally cursing. But it was of no use, because she was already gone.

Hope sighed as she sat on a bench at the park in Twilight Town. When she went to get her mission for the day that morning, she was told that she wouldn't have one, and to go and spend the day however she wanted to. The only person she had seen this morning were Roxas, before he left to go on a mission with Luxord in Wonderland. When she had gone to see Axel, he was gone already, to where exactly, she had no idea, and Xion…well, she had no idea where Xion had gone, but she assumed that it had been on a mission. Like always, Twilight Town was as usual, quiet and very empty, practically no one around. Basically, Hope was all by herself, with no one to talk to.

"Hey, it's Miss Hope!" Someone, a child to be exact exclaimed. "Miss Hope! Miss Hope!"

Hope looked up and over to the direction the shouting was coming from. "Huh?" She mumbled.

"Miss Hope!" It was Mattie, dragging along Luka, the two orphaned siblings she had met when she had been here looking for Xion.

Hope smiled at them as they came to a stop in front of her. "Hello, Mattie, Luka."

"Miss Hope, would you like to get some ice cream with us?" Luka asked, crawling into Hope's lap.

Hope smiled down at the two and nodded. "I'd like that." Hope stated, picking Luka up and placing her on her shoulders, while holding Mattie's hand, walking them off to get some ice cream.

After they got ice cream, they went back to the park, where they played a game of hide and seek, tag, and finished it off with swinging, Hope pushing the two. By the time they had finished playing at the park, it was already sunset, and time for the two children to return to the orphanage. Hope walked them back and once they reached the door, she knocked. It opened to reveal a woman who was probably in her late twenties, with tanned skin, a pink head scarf on her head, sporting two hoop earrings, a long purple skirt and a bit of a low cut, puffy sleeved shirt. When she saw Hope, she gave her a warming smile. "How can I help you?"

Hope smiled, gently pushing the two children forward. "I've come to return these two to you."

The woman gave a bit of frown. "They didn't cause any trouble, did they?"

Hope shook her head vigorously. "No, of course not. I just didn't think they should have to walk home by themselves, that's all."

"Oh, well then, thank you. Ok, you two, go and join the rest of the children for dinner."

"Yes, Miss Esmeralda!" Mattie and Luka both exclaimed, before waving at Hope and running inside.

The woman turned back and smiled at Hope. "Thank you for bringing them back safely. I'm sorry, but I don't believe we've met before. I'm Esmeralda, one of the head workers here in the orphanage." Esmeralda explained.

"Nice to meet you. I'm Hope. Mattie and Luka are such wonderful kids. It's surprising that no one has taken them yet."

Esmeralda smiled sadly. "Yes, it is. It's quite sad though. You see, because they're siblings, it's harder for adoption. Every couple that comes in here always wants one or the other, but never both. We don't want to see them separated, which is why we tell each couple that comes in here for an interview that Mattie and Luka have to go together."

'How sad…they can't find a family unless someone is willing to adopt them both.' "Well, that's an awful shame. They're wonderful children. It was nice to meet you, Esmeralda." Hope said, moving away from the door and waving.

"It was nice to meet you too, Hope. Have a good evening."

"You too." With that said, Hope walked off towards the clock tower to meet Axel and Roxas.

When Axel rounded the corner of the clock tower, he was surprised to find that Hope and Roxas were already seated. "You're both early."

Hope and Roxas turned to look at him as he approached them. "No, you're just late." Roxas stated, causing Hope to giggle and Axel to smirk. The three sat in silence for a few minutes, Axel and Hope both finishing their ice-cream within those few minutes, before Roxas spoke up and broke the silence. "Today makes 255."

"Huh?" Hope mumbled in confusion, cocking her head to the side.

"What's that about?" Axel asked the blonde, chewing on the popsicle stick.

"It's been that many days since I first joined the Organization," Roxas explained. Hope smiled at him and Axel slowly removed his popsicle stick that he had been chewing on as Roxas continued. "Man, time flies."

"So, you got the number memorized, do ya?" Axel asked, a small smirk on his face.

Roxas's theme begins to play~

"Yeah. Have to hang onto something, right? It's not like I have memories from before the Organization. Don't you two remember? I acted like a zombie." Roxas explained, looking down at his hands sadly, only to look back up and over at Axel as the red head placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Right, that first week you could barely form a sentence," He paused, looking away in a sad manner, but only to give Roxas a big slap on the back, a grin on his face as he did so. "But come on, you're still kind of a zombie." He said, patting the blond on the shoulder, while Hope giggled at the both of them.

"Oh, thanks!" Roxas said, all three of them laughing.

Hope had moved to sit against the wall, smiling at the both of them. "Hey, Roxas? Bet you don't know why the sun sets red. You see, light is made up of lots of colors. And out of all those colors, red is the one that travels the farthest."

Roxas elbowed him in the side. "Like I asked! Know-it-all."

Axel and Hope laughed at the nickname, their laughter soon followed by Roxas laughing with them. 'It's kind of funny, yet nice at the same time. They're just like brothers…' Hope thought, closing her eyes and leaning her head back against the wall, enjoying the warmth the setting sun was letting off, only to open her eyes when she felt something fall in her lap. She looked down to find Axel looking up at her with acidic green eyes, a cocky grin on his face. Hope rolled her eyes at him and looked back out at the sky, enjoying the silence.

After several minutes, Roxas turned to look at the corner, a frown on his face. "Seriously, where is she?" Roxas asked aloud.

Hope glanced over at him for a moment before looking back down at Axel, only to find that his content face was twisted up into a frown. She opened her mouth to ask if he was alright, but he sat up from her lap before she had the chance to. She frowned when she realized that Axel was acting as he were guilty of something. "Axel…"

"Roxas…I'm not sure she's gonna show today." Axel said, looking over at the blonde.

As soon as the words were spoken, Roxas's face turned into one of concern. "Did she collapse again?"

"She…" He paused, turning to look away, still wearing the frown, only to have it disappear within seconds and replaced with his usual grin. "…What, didn't you hear? She got sent on a really important mission. Pretty good, huh?"

"Oh…So when's she coming back?" Roxas asked.

"Well, I guess that depends on how well she does her job, right?"

Roxas laughed. "Heh, fair enough."

Axel looked over at Roxas one last time before looking out at the sky again. 'Sorry, Roxas…'

Hope frowned at the red-head, 'Axel….what is it that you're not telling us?'

"Yes, Miss Esmeralda!" Esmeralda is a disney character from the Hunchback of Notre Dame

A/N: Not too bad, but not too great either. Anyhoo, hope you enjoyed, and I'm in the process of starting the next chapter already! LATER TATERS!