Chapter 69

Lazy Afternoons

Sora and his friends stood patiently, waiting for Hayner, Pence and Olette to pick their jaws up off of the floor. They were not all too surprised that the three teens had been so taken aback by the revelation. Donald snickered, amused by the reaction.

Pence was the first to regain his bearings. "So, he's your Nobody? Does that mean he can do what you can do?" he asked.

Sora nodded. "Yeah. He can use the Keyblade," he answered.

Hayner gathered himself up and took on a posture as if acting as though he had not lost his composure. "If he was part of you, and he also had that power, that explains what made him so important to everything going on," he surmised.

He sighed. "You know, he didn't seem like too bad a guy. I kind of wish we could have gotten to know him."

Sora smiled, touched by that statement. "I'm sure he'd be glad to hear you say that," he told the blond.

Hayner raised his eyebrow in confusion. "What do you mean by that?" he asked.

"It'd be hard to explain, but you could say that he and I have a sort of connection," Sora replied.

Hayner smirked in amusement. "Whatever."

"Say, while you're all here," Olette began, "how about we give you guys a tour of the town? I know Kairi didn't really get the chance to see Market Street when she was first here, and I don't think you guys ever crossed over to the other side of town. So? How about it? We have plenty of time."

The guests traded glances with one another, wordlessly gauging each other's opinions of the offer. After seeing that they were like-minded on the idea, Sora and Kairi turned back to Olette. "Alright. Let's do it," Sora said.

"Sounds fun," Kairi agreed.

"Cool. You up, Hayner?" Pence asked.

Hayner chuckled. "Of course," he replied. "Let's take the six o'clock train to Sunset Station. Don't worry. Train rides within the town border are free."

Donald looked surprised. "That sounds like a curious business model," he commented.

Pence shrugged. "It seems to work for them, particularly with the other lines leading elsewhere. Like that funky ghost train."

Hayner, Pence and Olette led Sora, Riku, Kairi, Mickey, Donald, and Goofy out of the alleyway and back up to Central Station. They picked up their tickets, which of course were completely free, and boarded the first train. The only other passengers were a woman and her young son. The boy watched the six strangers in wonder as they boarded the train and sat down on the seats lining the walls, until his mother advised him not to stare.

The party of nine sat patiently as the train continued along its path. The visiting six turned to look out the windows and watch the scenery go by.

Kairi decided to make small talk. "So, what's on the other side of town?" she asked.

"Sunset Terrace is mostly a residential district," Pence explained. "Aside from the rail system, it's connected to the market and event areas by an underground concourse. Some people tend to use that to cross from one side to another if they want to get their exercise. After all, not even Hayner can challenge you to a race if you're both sitting on a train." He let out a laugh to accompany the joke. Kairi giggled as well.

"A few months ago, the concourse was closed off for maintenance," Olette added. "But now they're back open."

Pence leaned in and affected a spooky campfire voice. "You know, some say that it was being haunted by phantoms that appear out of the shadows to target their prey," he said hauntingly.

Hayner rolled his eyes. "Please! Not another one of those bogus rumors," he complained.

Sora raised his eyebrow. "Rumors?" he parroted, curious. Next to him, Riku sighed in apparent exasperation. He seemed to know a thing or two about what Hayner was talking about.

Before the discussion could continue, the train slowed down and the driver announced that they were pulling into Sunset Station. Moments later, the train came to a stop and the doors opened. The passengers stepped out of the train and allowed a new group of people to board.

They stood on a platform that led down to the street via a few flights of stone steps wrapping around the platform; the platform was raised up so that the train would ride along a track that went over and around the town. To their left was a large yellow clock with brown hands. Down a short set of steps, a ticket booth not unlike the one at Central Station sat on the right. A waist-high railing secured the platform ahead of them.

As they began to walk down the flight of stairs, Sora noticed some graffiti on the wall next to him. It said "SPOOKY STAIRS".

"Hey, Pence," Sora called. Pence stopped in his tracks at the bottom of the stairs and turned around. "What's this?" Sora pointed at the graffiti.

Hayner scowled. "One of Pence's dumb rumors," he griped. Clearly, he was tired of the so-called rumors and Pence's apparent fascination with them.

Pence smiled in mild embarrassment. "Well, he's not wrong," he admitted under his breath. "You see, there were these surreal stories going around town. Some of my classmates and I called them 'The Seven Wonders of Twilight Town'. Since people pass through here every day, this has become the most famous one."

"What makes them so spooky?" Goofy asked.

Hayner groaned, knowing that he could do nothing to stop this discussion.

"Well, the story is that they count differently every time you go up and down," Pence explained. "But here's the kicker: Rai was the one who counted them."

Sora, Kairi and Mickey were unimpressed. Riku was simply unfazed, apparently having heard about the so-called rumor. Goofy tapped his noggin curiously, trying to wrap his head around the whole thing. Donald crossed his arms and tapped his foot. "Every time?" the duck asked.

Pence sighed. "Yeah. Every time," he answered lamely. "He was like, 'every time I count, it's different, y'know'. No one else really bothered counting more than once."

"Rai," Sora reiterated, disappointed. "Seifer's lackey? Not too bright? Apparently made it to high school without knowing how to count?"

Hayner waved his hand dismissively. "Don't get your hopes up with the other six," he said in a harsh tone. "They're all dumb tabloid tales told by people who don't have the motivation or common sense to figure out what's really going on. The Friend from Beyond the Wall? Someone throwing balls from a bricked-off alley. The Moans from the Tunnel? Wind blowing through a vent in the underground tunnel. The Doppelganger? A reflection in the waterfall. The Animated Bag? A dog somehow got stuck in that sack. The Ghost Train?" He paused as he remembered the purple and yellow train that Sora, Donald and Goofy boarded. "Okay, I guess there was something fishy about that. But the last one? The Lonely Girl? That was just a curtain blowing from a draft. You even started going behind our backs to look into that so-called 'Eighth Wonder' way back when and then everyone shut up about it. Let's just forget about your mysteries and fantasies!"

Pence appeared hurt by Hayner's tirade. Olette put a hand on his shoulder comfortingly.

"Now look what you did," Sora scolded Hayner. "That's no way to talk to your friend."

Hayner jumped in surprise. He turned back around and saw Pence's sad expression. He rubbed the back of his neck nervously, ashamed of himself. "Sorry, Pence," he said. "I didn't mean to be so harsh."

"Don't feel bad, Pence," Olette said soothingly. "Some of your research turned out to be interesting. Your parallel dimension theory helped Sora find Kairi. And Mrs. Tweigel liked your ideas on emotional feedback in relation to it."

"There's nothing wrong with a healthy curiosity," Mickey assured him. "At least, so long as it doesn't get out of hand."

After a moment, Pence smiled back at his friends. "Thanks, guys."

"A dog got stuck in a bag?" Goofy asked, horrified by Hayner's explanation of the fifth rumor.

Hayner shrugged. "Honestly, I couldn't tell you how that happened. I don't even know the actual details," he admitted.

"How long had that been going around before Pence figured it out?" Donald asked.

"Reports had been going around for a few weeks, on and off, before I figured out what was going on," Pence explained. "I told the dog's owners after I found out, and they had no idea how she kept getting stuck in there."

"Gawrsh," was all Goofy could say in response.

"So, yeah, other than that, the 'Seven Wonders' are pretty mundane misconceptions," Hayner concluded. "Let's not worry about them. Come on!" He beckoned the others to follow as he started descending the remaining stairs. Deciding to end the discussion right there, the rest of the group followed after him, though Sora and Kairi wondered where the other rumors came from. Riku, however, seemed to be stuck on a specific rumor that Hayner had complained about and debunked.

The Sunset Terrace was just as lively as Market Street. Friends talked on street corners and grown-ups took walks around the district. Some families spent the hour eating dinner together. A single-car tram, the same color as the train, drove back and forth along a straight line from one end of the terrace to the other. Sora noticed that it did not seem to be the most practical mode of transportation, nor the most convenient use of a tram system, but Olette explained that the more athletic youths liked to climb onto it and hop across rooftops. She also told him that the tram, on both sides of town, moved slowly enough so that the driver could stop it whenever someone stepped in front of its path.

Sora decided to try it out. One second after he stepped on the path, the tram stopped. He grabbed onto the lip above the windshield and vaulted himself up onto the roof. With him no longer in the way, the tram continued along. Sora looked around, considering where to go from there. When the tram reached the end of its track, he saw a house to the right and jumped over the gap, landing on its roof. From the perspective of his friends on the ground, the house's residents did not seem bothered by the thump audible from the roof; they seemed used to people jumping across roofs.

Sora beckoned his friends to follow along before jumping to the next roof. With the exceptions of Pence and Olette, who politely refused based on personal fitness and preference, respectively, and Donald, who had no chance of keeping up, the gang jumped on top of the tram car one-by-one and started crossing roofs after Sora. Kairi, Goofy and Hayner landed on different roofs at their first jumps, as the tram had started going back in the other direction.

Sora jumped across roofs until he came near a large entrance to a tunnel built into the hill. He stopped and listened when he heard what seemed to be an eerie moaning sound. After a short moment, Riku, Kairi, Mickey, Hayner, and Goofy had joined him on the roof. Pence, Olette and Donald, meanwhile, had followed their path on the ground.

"So, I take it these are the fabled 'Moans from the Tunnel'?" Sora asked.

Hayner nodded. "Yep. Of course, that's just the noise the ventilation makes just inside. I guess it reverberates enough to come out as that creepy echo."

"Huh." For some reason, Sora could only imagine a kid with a funny-looking witch's hat carrying a Struggle bat. He did not know what that had to do with the rumor, and he did not know who the kid was, so he put the thought to the side.

He walked over to the ledge and hopped off of the roof, landing in the street near Pence, Olette and Donald. The others followed suit.

"Come on," Pence said. "You've got to see the view from Sunset Hill." He beckoned for the others to follow and led them down to the end of the tram track. The party walked up the nearby path leading up and around the northern hill at the edge of the terrace. When they reached the top, they could see the dusk sun in the distance. The summit was fenced around by guardrails made from pieces of wood. To the right of the center was a construct reminiscent of the Central Station clock tower.

None of them could help but smile at the view. The sight of the perpetual sunset over a serene landscape captured the feel of the entire town for the visiting party: peaceful and wholesome. Even though it lacked the sound of seawater lapping on sand and the feeling of an ocean breeze, it reminded Sora, Riku and Kairi of home.

"Hard to beat this view, huh?" Olette said. Sora, Kairi, and Goofy shook their heads, smiling. They all sat down and stared into the distance, enjoying the sight.

Every few minutes, they saw a train go by on an elevated track in the distance. The third train to go by was different from the others; it was purple and yellow rather than orange, and it had what appeared to be a conical hat with star-and-moon designs above the windshield.

"That's the train you got on after we first met, right?" Pence asked. Sora nodded. "Remember the Seven Wonders we were talking about earlier? Well, we call this one 'The Ghost Train'. What can you tell us about it?"

Sora chuckled, remembering the strange train ride. He recalled that, while he, Donald and Goofy did ride it, there was no one behind the controls. It also passed through the sea between worlds in seconds and vanished as soon as they had disembarked. He could tell that it would be fun to see how Pence, Hayner and Olette react to what he says.

"Well, it didn't take us anywhere in town, or on this world, even. A few minutes after leaving the station, it jumped through dimensions and brought us to this land mass that was just floating in the middle of nowhere. And there was this tower where an old wizard lived, and he briefed us on our mission to stop the threat of Organization XIII," he explained.

As he had expected, Pence, Hayner and Olette's eyes had widened as much as humanly possible. Donald snickered at this.

"Then fairies made me new clothes and we flew off in a rocket," Sora added.

This broke the ice and caused the three teens to burst into laughter. The rest of the group soon joined in, and they laughed together until they got tired of doing so.

"Well, I can say I'm glad that our town sticks to the simple life," Hayner said. "I don't know how I would take it if creatures from other dimensions just started running around willy-nilly."

"Uh, yeah…" Olette seemed to agree, all while images of a green two-legged dragon flying around Market Street played in her mind.

Riku was deep in thought. The topic of the sixth Wonder brought a resurgence in his earlier curiosity, and since the topic was still fresh in everyone's minds he decided to ask about it. "Hey, Hayner, about the other 'Wonders'…" Hayner raised an eyebrow at what Riku was saying. "Can you tell me about the last one you mentioned? The Lonely Girl?"

"Oh? Sure." By that point, Hayner had calmed down from his prior outburst at the discussion of the Seven Wonders, so he was willing to talk about it in a calm fashion. "There's this old mansion deep in the woods. It's supposed to be abandoned, though a few months ago Pence, Olette and I, with Sora, Donald, Goofy, and Mickey coming along, found working computers in the basement. But before we did that investigation, everyone thought that it had been long since abandoned. However, starting a little over a year ago, whenever people went out to the woods and got a look at the mansion, they would come back and say that they saw a girl standing in the second floor window. I think they said that she looked like she was blonde and wore a white dress, making her almost look like a ghost or something."

Kairi raised an eyebrow quizzically, a sense of recognition slowly creeping in on hearing the description of the girl. "So, Pence, didn't you say that you investigated the Wonders?" she asked.

Pence nodded. "Yeah. Though, I didn't actually go inside. Even if I wanted to, the gate had a huge lock on it. Olette maybe could have fit between the bars, but I definitely couldn't. So I just looked into the window from outside. And, on first glance, it definitely looked like there was a girl standing at the side. But it was so far away that I couldn't really be sure that it wasn't just my eyes playing tricks on me. So I pulled out my binoculars to get an enlarged and clearer view." Kairi and Olette traded glances and both looked befuddled by the last thing he had said. "Turns out, it was just the curtain shifting. I guess there was a draft in there, or something."

Riku, Kairi and Sora traded curious glances. The description of the girl in the mansion seemed familiar.

"A blonde girl in a white dress? Does that sound like anyone we know?" Sora asked his friends.

Riku nodded. "Sounds a lot like her," he replied.

Hayner was taken aback. "Wait. You know that girl?" he asked in surprise.

Sora nodded. "We figured out that the computers in the basement belonged to Ansem the Wise, right? Well, he and Riku were working together to investigate the Organization for a year, and to make sure that Donald, Goofy and I were able to regain our memories properly and wake up," he explained. "There was also a girl with them, doing most of the work in putting my memories back together. Her name was Naminé."

Hayner and Pence raised their eyebrows, intrigued. "Well, two points to the Wonders, I guess," Hayner commented. "So, what was Naminé's deal? Let me guess: long-lost childhood friend with magic powers? No, wait. Kairi's Nobody?"

Kairi smiled. "The second one," she answered.

This simply drew a chuckle out of Hayner. This revelation had not shocked him as much as the one about Roxas.

Olette, meanwhile, was only more curious about both Nobodies. "Maybe one day you can bring them so we can all meet," she suggested.

Sora smiled. "I'm sure they'd like that," he said.

They spent a few more minutes watching the sunset before they decided to return to the other side of town and finish the tour at the Tram Common. They elected to take a walk through the Underground Concourse. In the tunnel system, they heard the hum of ventilation and the slosh of water running through the sewage system beneath the floor. They could also faintly hear the rumbling of one or two of the trains driving around aboveground. Each footstep echoed through the winding pathways. At first, there was only a long hallway with a few short branches leading to exits or maintenance points. Eventually, the paths opened up in multiple directions, the paths turning and intersecting. There were multiple points that lead out and up a flight of stairs to the surface. Each exit was numbered so it would be easy to tell which paths led where.

Despite what Pence said about supposed monsters roaming the tunnels, nothing rose up to attack them, though Goofy stopped and turned around a few times when he thought he detected something out of the ordinary.

They stepped through the archway labeled "4" and climbed the steps up to the Tram Common. Everyone climbed into the tram as it came by and stared out the windows as it drove around the town, taking in the sights. After the first loop, they stepped off and passed the Moogle Shop, which was in a cylindrical building not far from the tunnel entrance, and made their way to a stall selling ice cream.

"Okay, Kairi, you've got to try the Sea-Salt Ice Cream," Sora insisted.

"I can't wait to try it," Kairi replied.

"Say, did Scrooge ever recreate that recipe?" Mickey asked.

"Yeah! It took him a while, but he got it," Donald answered.

Hayner flashed the cashier a smile. "Nine Sea-Salts," he told her.

"Sea-Salt Ice Creams coming right up," the cashier replied.

"You sure you can pay for that?" Olette asked.

Hayner chuckled cockily. "Of course I…" He felt around in his pocket and realized that she had a point.

Sora noticed this and decided to step in. "Let me help you with that," he said. He took a sum of Munny out of his pocket and showed it to Hayner.

Hayner nodded in thanks. "You sure come prepared," he commented.

A few minutes later, the cashier returned and handed a stick of blue ice cream each to Sora and Hayner. They took the ice creams and the cashier went back to grab two more. She handed out ice cream until each customer had one.

"That'll be 1,800 Munny," the cashier said. Sora and Hayner handed the Munny over. The young woman noticed Sora and his friend. "Don't believe I've met you all. You from out of town?"

Sora nodded. "Yeah. I'm Sora." The other five introduced themselves in turn.

"Well, nice to meet you all. I'm Xu," the cashier introduced herself. "I take it this is also your first time having Sea-Salt Ice Cream?"

"Actually, Donald's had one before," Sora clarified. "And I've heard good things about it."

"Well, then take a bite and let me know how you like it!"

Sora and Kairi took their first bites. "Mmmm…" they hummed as they savored the taste.

"Salty…" Sora began.

"Yet sweet," Kairi finished.

Riku, Mickey, Donald, and Goofy tasted their treats next, and practically melted in ice cream bliss.

Xu giggled. "I take it you like it," she surmised. They nodded in confirmation. "That's great. Well, enjoy!"

"Thanks!" Sora replied. The party began to take their leave, but Sora noticed something pinned up on the wall next to the shop window. At the top, it read "CUSTOMER OF THE MONTH". Below that, in a list labeling months from the current and previous year, were a series of names. The name "Axel" seemed to be on the list for several months straight, up until November of the previous year. On a few lines, there were one or two other names beside his. One of them was "Roxas", which made sense, since they would both eat ice cream together after each day's missions. Since ice cream was practically part of their daily routine, it was only natural that they would win the "Customer of the Month" by a landslide.

But there was a third name that was unfamiliar to Sora. Written in katakana at a small distance away from Axel and Roxas' scripted names, Sora tried to make out who this third person was.

Shi…on…

Sora tapped Riku on the shoulder. If anyone was going to know about what Roxas had been up to during his year in the Organization, it would be him.

Riku turned around. "Yeah, Sora?"

Sora pointed at the bulletin. "You see these names?" he asked.

Riku studied the list his friend was showing him. "Roxas and Axel, right? I guess they did eat a lot of ice cream," he joked.

"But, see, on a few of these, there's another name," Sora clarified. "Does the name 'Shion' sound familiar to you?"

Riku thought hard about the question, recalling all of his time spying on Roxas. However, the name did not even raise a spark of recognition. He shook his head. "Sorry. I got nothing."

Sora shrugged. "Oh, well. Could be a coincidence," he said in resignation. He took another bite of his ice cream.

"But you don't think so?" Riku asked, raising an eyebrow in his friend's direction.

"Just curious," Sora replied. He did not know what to make of it himself, so he decided to put the thought aside and maybe look into it later.

Sora and Riku rejoined the group, and they all returned to the Usual Spot, where they finished their ice cream and spent the rest of the evening talking and laughing together.

A/N: Such as in this chapter, I've been scattering a few Final Fantasy shout-outs around the story, mostly by giving names to minor characters. Be sure to keep an eye out for them, as well as the other Disney references I toss about.

And just to clarify in case anyone was confused by one of the last bits, the Keyblade does allow its wielders and those around them to understand conversation and written text in their own first languages, but I'm going to say that Sora, Riku and Kairi's first language is not exactly English. Kind of like Spanglish, they grew up learning a mix of different languages: English, Japanese, and one other that I will bring up later. This explains why I modified Disney quotes where characters gratuitously threw in lines of Spanish and French dialogue, as characters such as Lumière always speak French and Flynn/Eugene actually speaks German but the main cast hear it as English (and we hear/read it as such). Going off of smaller details, I determined that Twilight Town is modeled after a Japanese town, so Sora, Riku and Kairi hear it in the natural Japanese, though Mickey, Donald, Goofy, and the readers understand it as English. Just wanted to get that bit out there.