I'm Nobody

by free man writer

He didn't have anything when he was born. Just a name and number. But over time, what he had grew. He, with his friends began to understand that there was more to their existence then just their name and number. They will prove that they were meant to be real. To exist. To become something more than just a Nobody. Co-written and created with Jebest4781. Fem Shepard. Now on Ao3.

8. Time With the Crew

Yes, the fear is palpable.

The reviews made me laugh with the level of fear I saw and the clever word play is fantastic.

Yeah, he is coming alright. When he arrives it'll be a madhouse. Hope you guys are ready for it.

Poll is still up and Miranda is gaining on Shepard but our favorite Commander is still leading. Still got time folks, so keep on voting while ya can.

Other than that, thanks again to those who have read and support this new story. Jebest and I greatly appreciate it.

Rate Read and Review and as Always Have Nice Day.

I'm Nobody Chapter 8: Time with the Crew.

"In your hand, take this key. So long as you have the makings, then through this simple act of taking...its wielder you shall one day be. And you will find me, friend—no ocean will contain you then. No more borders around, or below, or above, so long as you champion the ones you love."

*Thisshig rrrerrk*

Roxas found himself in a world of ghosts, goblins and spooky things.

In front of him was a tall, skinny boney individual who went by the name of Jack Skellington, the Pumpkin King.

"Sally." Jack bemoaned. "Why didn't I listen to you?"

"Don't worry Jack." Sally, the ragdoll experiment given life assured while taking his hands into her own. She gave him a reassuring smile that seemed to warm the sentient skeleton's very being. "We'll come up with another plan for Halloween. Next time, we'll do it together."

*Thisshig rrrerrk*

Roxas soon gazed at Riku, who stood next to some sort of wooden boy, as they seemed to be within some being, given the fleshy muscle all around. The surrounding area pulsed left and right as if it were alive.

"-Or are you too cool to play them now that you have the Keyblade?"

"Riku! W-What are you doing here?" Asked Sora. "Did you find her?"

*Thishhig rrrerrk*

"POWER!"

Around him, he fought with individuals, creatures some may call them, of extraordinary power.

One was a small red dragon that rested upon his head named Mushu.

Another, a large proud lion called Simba.

*Thisshig rrrerrk*

Standing upon the deck of a ship, he was gazing up and out at the night sky.

"I still can't believe it." He said to himself in disbelief. "I actually flew! Wait'll I tell Kairi. I wonder if she'll believe me. Probably not."

Next thing he realized, he was flying around a large clock tower with Sora, Donald and Goofy along with their newest friend and ally Peter Pan.

They were with another girl… What was her name again? Wendy, yeah, they had rescued her before.

The small fairy that appeared to accompany Peter everywhere then flew before him with her arms crossed in an expectant manner.

"Be sure to keep an eye on her for me, will ya?" Peter asked with a mischievous wink.

Blinking, he turned to Peter with an incredulous look.

"Whaaat?"

*Thisshig rrrerrk*

Within a colosseum, Roxas saw a tall blonde man wearing a red cloak around his neck with some sort of golden metal gauntlet on his left arm. Strapped onto his back, there was a large sword that was just as long as his own body.

Said man was walking past Sora, Donald and Goofy with the brown haired teen speaking up.

"-I'm searching, too."

"For your light? Don't lose sight of it too."

*Thisshig rrrerrk*

"Sora, where are you going?"

In an instant, Roxas suddenly saw Sora walking away from what appeared to be sentient plush animal toys. One was a pink piglet, a tiger, an orange-yellow bear wearing a red shirt, a yellow rabbit, a kangaroo wearing a blue shirt, and an owl.

"I'm gonna go look for my friends." Came Sora's response. "They're waiting for me."

*Thisshig rrrerrk*

Back on the deck of a ship, Sora questioned Riku. "Where are Donald and Goofy?"

"Instead of worrying about them, you should be asking about her." Riku said, who soon gazed at a comatose Kairi.

*Thisshig rrrerrk*

*Thisshig rrrerrk*

*Thisshig rrrerrk*

*Thisshig rrrerrk*

Within a circular white room, thirteen elevated throne-like chairs encircled a single platform.

Out of the thirteen, only eleven were full.

The last two were standing far down below all those seated high.

One was taller than the other, almost by a full head with flaming red hair and two purple teardrop tattoos underneath his eyes.

The other… well it was one the dreamer knew. Someone she knew very personally.

It was...

"Let us all welcome one of the Keyblade's chosen." A deep, bass tone spoke from the highest seat in the circle.

It was a human male with silver hair, a tan complexion and amber eyes gazing down at the newest member with a wide grin.

The dreamer felt an unsettling chill run down their spine at the sound of the voice on top of the look they had received.

Next thing the dreamer knew, the environment around them shifted.

They were now sitting at the edge of what appeared to be a clock tower. They had ice cream in their hands.

Wait… this was familiar to the dreamer.

Yes, that's sea salt ice cream!

"This is sea-salt Ice cream. Come on Roxas, get it memorized."

What was all this?

Where were they sitting- the sunset.

It was… breathtaking!

Yet it was short lived as the dreamer observed Roxas laying on the ground in a completely different set of clothes.

Then, a moment later, an ominous dark pillar appeared from out of nowhere right before the boy with a tall figure walking forward in the same black cloak as Roxas wore. He strode straight over to Roxas, the boy having lifeless eyes.

"You seek answers."

Wait… that voice… the dreamer heard this voice just moments ago.

"I can give you purpose."

Before Roxas was a different name.

Sora.

The letters then began spinning around the young teen rapidly until the hooded man threw his hand forward and an X appeared between the R and O and the A and S.

"Roxas." The teen read aloud; tone utterly devoid of emotion.

"That is right, the new you."

Before they could stay any longer, they had been thrown forward by an unforeseen force being hurtled through an endless void until…

…

…

…

Inhaling an intake of air, Tali woke up with an uneasy start.

The Quarian sat up with her muscles popping and groaning.

She was unsure as to what that dream was but…

She shook her head.

Probably was just a dream.

Yeah… that's what it was. Just a dream. Nothing more and nothing less.

She proceeded to prop her knees up slightly, curling her arms around them.

If it was a dream, why was it bothering her so much?

Shaking her head once again, she left her sleeping pod and went towards the cafeteria. She spotted both Ashley and Wrex eating breakfast with another squadmate.

Roxas.

It appeared that he was in discussion with Wrex and Ashley, the three of them exchanging words at a casual pace.

It was an unusual experience where Tali momentarily hesitated in approaching the one she was most familiar with on the ship.

Hell, if she were being honest with herself, she trusts Roxas a great deal.

And with that, Tali scoffed at her momentary lapse of trepidation, walking right over to the trio.

"Morning everyone." Tali said cheerfully, seating herself right next to Roxas.

"Hey Tali." Ash and Roxas greeted her at the same time.

Wrex simply grunted in greeting though there was a glimmer in his eye where she simply smiled beneath her helmet.

"Not gonna eat anything, Tali?" Ashley inquired, taking a bit out of her meal.

Tali waved her hand. "Not right now. A bit later probably."

They only shrugged in acceptance, going back to their own food.

"So what were you guys talking about?" Tali asked, propping her arms on the table. "Hope I didn't interrupt too much."

"Don't worry about it." Ashley said, fiddling around with what was left in her bowl. "It was nothing much. Just the past few missions."

"Oh. What about them?"

"Nothing too crazy." Wrex remarked, taking a large bite out of… whatever it was he ate. "Just been getting a lot more of them recently."

"Yeah." Ashley grumbled. "Feels like we're having less down time and more time getting shot at or whatever it is the Heartless can do."

"I'm totally fine with it." Wrex said, once swallowing his meal. "Gave me more stuff to kill then my usual crap."

Nodding in acceptance, Tali's thoughts drifted onto what exactly they went through.

Right after leaving Feros, the Normandy went off to the Caspian system in the neighboring Maroon Sea cluster. There they were checking out several planets to acquire materials to trade to the Alliance and the Moogle for later projects. During this time, they came across the MSV Cornucopia, a derelict ship that has been drifting for quite some time.

There was no distress call being broadcasted, making them curious on what was going on.

Once boarding the ship, they came across something that Shepard, Kaidan and Ashley had only seen once back on Eden Prime: Dragon's Teeth and Husks.

Those who haven't seen them before had their own reactions upon seeing them. For Tali, it was honestly disturbing as they reminded her of the Thorian Creepers back on Feros.

Once clearing out the ship, they learned from the ship's logs that the MSV Cornucopia was exploring near the Perseus Veil and found some kind of alien artifact. They brought in on board and sometime later, the crew felt compelled in going straight through the Perseus Veil!

The entries didn't make a whole lot of sense afterwards as if the captain's mind was degrading. The logs never once said anything on their return.

Then again, why would there be after the Geth turned the ship's crew into Husks. The reason? A warning for any organics to stay out of their territory.

It made Tali and the rest wonder how the Geth acquired such horrific means of creating Husks.

After reporting to the System's Alliance on the derelict ship, the Normandy headed off to the Vostok system in the Maroon Sea to check out the ExoGeni facility located there. And sure enough, upon arriving there, they received a distress signal from one of its planets.

Landing on Nodacrux, the Normandy team eventually located the ExoGeni facility… after traversing through the most stupid mountain terrain they had to ride through.

It was as if Shepard's driving made things much more worse, with the bouncing, the falling and rolling!

...Once arriving at the facility, they ended up running into Thorian Creepers!

It was insane for them to come across the plant-like zombies once more. And they learned the reason why their presence was on that planet.

Apparently, a bunch of ExoGeni scientists brought over the Creepers to this facility for study. But when the Thorian died, the Creepers went nuts and broke out of their contaminants, causing the scientists to lock themselves up for days for their own safety.

When asking if there were any other survivors, the scientist there stated that one of their own was unaccounted for, having disappeared when the Creepers escaped. When asking for his name, the scientist there only knew him as The Professor and nothing else. A man from the head office who personally came by the facility to check up on progress before up and leaving before shit went down.

After that, the Normandy went off to the Matano system in the Maroon Sea to investigate the Cerberus facility on Chasca, something they picked up from the abandoned ExoGeni building back on Feros.

There was not much to know about Cerberus, only thing they seemed to learn about it was that it was originally a black ops branch of the Alliance before relations turned sour and they broke away. After that, everything about them was a complete mystery, other than the underhand dealings and illegal research out in the Terminus systems.

Along the way of finding the facility, they found some Prothean ruins. Liara was ecstatic and took a whole bunch of pictures and notes on the place before they continued on with their search.

Whatever pleasant mood there was after visiting the ruins started to decline drastically.

The various colony outposts stationed on the planet were practically barren, ghost towns as the humans call it. It was utterly dreary. Everyone wondered where the colonists went off to as their space crafts were still there and everything seemed left untouched.

Their answers were given when coming to the Cerberus facility. Upon entering the place, they learned a drastic truth: every colonist on Chasca was brought there and turned into Husks!

It was not a pleasant sight to see when killing off every Husk they could find.

Once clearing out the base, the group combed through the servers, hoping to find answers, only to find the systems were wiped clean.

After leaving Chasca, Shepard had to report on their findings to the Alliance in hopes they can figure out what to do from there.

During said call to the Alliance, Shepard and her crew were tasked with going to the Armstrong Nebula in order to help take care of the massive increase of Geth activity.

Alliance surveillance drones caught four Geth outposts spread throughout the system and needed to be taken care of. The reason for their presence was unknown. They could be gathering intel or maybe setting up staging grounds for hit and run attacks on human colonies.

Stopping Saren is a lot more important than wiping out some Geth outposts. Even though Shepard is currently a Spectre, she is still part of the Alliance, so she had to comply in helping out.

Everyone admitted that this last assignment was very challenging. Not only having to clear out the outposts of the synthetic race, but also the many Heartless that were popping up in droves.

Once taking care of the four reported bases, they found out there was a fifth base, the main one located on Solcrum. From there, they rushed in and cleared the place out.

...Yet something odd occurred once the last Geth fell. There was a transmission which suddenly played an old recording of a Quarian singing a mournful a Capella of worlds and innocence lost. And the destination of the transmission was towards the Geth worlds behind the Perseus Veil.

While Tali was very moved upon hearing it, Roxas was able to get a recording of the transmission, knowing it was a part of her people's history and was very valuable to her. She was very touched by his action.

When combing through the base, they discovered a number of encrypted Geth data files. And upon decoding them, they were revealed to be a data cache pertaining about the evolution of the Geth since the Quarian's exile from Rannoch.

Before Shepard sent the data cache back to the Alliance, Tali asked her for a copy of the data in order to bring it back as a Pilgrimage gift. And miraculously enough, the human Spectre happily complied as she deserved it.

The Geth files would take years for her people to study. But for now it will give them new insight into how the synthetic race developed over the past centuries. One detail for instance were the possible plans on the Geth setting up outposts on planets that are inhabitable by any other race out there, due to the harsh climates.

Tali was soon brought out of her thoughts when she heard Ashley scream following a savage sound of food being eaten.

"Stitch!" Ashley cried out in annoyance at the little fuzzball jumping down to eat the rest of her meal.

Stitch laughed hysterically, giving the Gunnery Chief a slobbering lick before promptly running away as Ashley slammed her hands down on the table and chased after the small alien.

Wrex chortled aloud with Tali smothering a small giggle.

Roxas' lips twitched upwards as he watched Ashley run after Stitch who was crawling along the walls and ceilings to keep out of reach from the marine.

Since departing Feros, the Normandy had gained yet another crew member, this one in the form of 626 or as he is now called, Stitch.

With Stitch, the little guy had bought a lot of luggage of his own.

Mainly, a strange red jumpsuit that was meant for him when he had all four of his arms out.

A collection of weapons that some they were familiar with. The others, not so much.

Particularly, a set of yellow pistols that blasted a green explosive projectile of some kind that proved to be very effective against the Geth and many other enemies; clearly shown during their past few missions.

Some food (mostly cake) and water.

Yet, the one thing that stood out to them all more than anything was the large collections of vinyl records, an old vinyl player, a guitar and the plethora of Hawaii memorabilia back from Earth.

The human members of the crew, save for Roxas, were openly bewildered and thrown off by this collection.

How in the world did this little guy attain such rare items from many centuries ago that were rare antiques now?

626 appeared to worship one record in particular, this one being all Elvis Pressley hits.

When he had settled himself on the Normandy, a majority of the time was spent exploring the ship for the most part, freaking out the crew mates that had yet to meet the little guy, to learn about the functions of the ship.

Joker was having quite the hard time in dealing with the small fuzzball, having had a few rather comedic arguments. The short fur ball argued against the Normandy pilot half the time with Joker holding nothing back whenever he denied the little guy a chance at the helm.

He kept pointing out the wrecked red spaceship that they had also brought on from 626's little cave of Feros and how banged up it was, proving to Joker how inept of a pilot he was. 626 only roared aloud childishly in disapproval, making for quite the entertaining act.

Frankly, some of the crew believed that Joker may have the magic touch in knowing how to communicate with their newest member. Aside from Roxas, Tali and surprisingly Garrus, Stitch has spent the majority of his time on the ship with Joker.

It seemed the little guy was hellbent on flying the ship and would not back down.

While this was what dominated most of Stitch's time, there was one other matter that came up that quite honestly… well, it couldn't be described.

Only shown.

It was to be a simple lunch between the squad, a rare time where the whole squad was eating together.

All save for two.

Those two being Roxas and 626.

Who had come up to the table of the Normandy ground squad, Stitch's vinyl record player being brought in by Roxas.

"Roxas?" Shepard said in confusion, looking between the boy and the little alien as the former set the record player down on the table.

The rest of the squad looked to him and Stitch with the shorter of the two standing up on the table with them trying to figure out what the two were up to.

Placing a record in, Roxas gently took one of Stitch's clawed fingers and placed it against the rotating vinyl.

"Watch this."

Roxas then opened 626's mouth and much to the complete shock of the crew, the music of Elvis began to play out from the jaws of Stitch.

"We can't go on together, with suspicious minds~

The Nobody closed the mouth, the music stopping only for it to play once again when Roxas opened Stitch's mouth.

"And we can't build our dreams, on suspicious minds~"

He repeated the process several more times until at long last, Shepard placed her hand over his giving him a weak smile.

"Alright Roxas." Jane said, voice strained. "I think that's enough crazy for one day."

When they had walked away, there was an awkward laugh that the group shared.

"Geez, can this place get any stranger?" Ash asked jokingly.

"I don't know." Garrus dryly remarked, gazing out at the Moogle that was jovially floating about. "Can it?"

Seeing what he was staring at, Jane snorted. "Who knows. That seems to be the trajectory for the ship."

"Think we should give that little guy a name?" Kaidan abruptly asked.

"Huh?"

"A name." Kaidan repeated. "Like how Tali gave Stitch his own."

"That was more of a happy accident." Tali stated. "He just liked the word and ran with it."

If one may ask what Tali was inferring, to put it plainly, her suit had been damaged from all the fighting that had occurred down on Feros.

She had to make sure her suit was patched up properly and during her process of fixing it up, 626 walked in.

When the little guy asked in his own specific manner, she responded by saying she was "stitching" her suit back together.

Upon hearing that word, 626 had a few moments inside his own head until he declared.

"Stitch!"

"What now?"

"Stitch. Messa name Stitch."

And that was that.

Frankly, a much easier name than 626.

"We'll just have to politely ask the guy." Said Jane. "After all, did anyone bother to ask him?"

No one said anything after that, enjoying their current state of peace.

-Scene Cut-

Within a room composed of white stone and marble, a young girl in her teens sat at a table, multiple crayons and pencils around a sketch board she was currently drawing in.

Namine hummed to herself, dusting off some of the left over graphite near one of the lines she had just drawn.

In front of her, a girl around her age was sitting adjacent watching her draw while eating some sea-salt ice-cream.

Namine finished her little drawing and held it up for her friend to see with the girl smiling approvingly.

Xion had been coming back here to Castle Oblivion after her missions for some time now. Since Axel couldn't leave this place until further notice and Roxas still missing, No. XIV felt as if going to the clocktower by herself would be extremely lonely and not just right.

Axel and Namine had been able to join her on occasion but that was just it. It was only every once in a while.

So, rather than just mope about alone atop the tower, Xion has been opting to hang out with the wayward Nobody and doing whatever she wants to pass the time.

Mostly being her model for her drawings.

Like the one she just showed her of her, Namine and Axel all spending time together.

Honestly, her crude, childish drawings were starting to get better. Namine was beginning to add better details and more accentuated parts of her drawing that gave a more clearer image as to who and what it was.

"Where do you think Axel is now?" Xion asked, idly swinging her legs a bit beneath her seat.

"Wandering this place from top to bottom and spending time in the library."

"Hope he doesn't get lost."

Both girls turned to the other person in the room and saw Demyx casually situated on a couch with Sitar in hand, casually strumming his instrument.

"What are you doing here?" Xion asked in surprise.

"Bored back at the Grey Room on my off time so decided to check this place out." Demyx admitted. "That, and I want some away time from Saix and stay away from Larxene."

Xion gave Demyx an expectant look.

"Any reason why?"

"Larxene? Eh~" The Melodious Nocturne was tightening up his sitar strings as he continued. "She's been getting rather moody lately and I hightailed outta there."

On that part, Xion could understand. To say that Larxene had a bit of a volatile temperament would be putting it mildly.

She never really did or said anything bad to her specifically but the way she acted around most other people save for Marluxia and Axel just put Xion off.

"But shouldn't you be reporting back to Saix?" No. XIV asked.

"Already have." Demyx waved off.

"And?"

"Same as yesterday and the day before and the day before that."

Suddenly, the door to the room opened and in walked a rather irritated Axel.

He groaned aloud, immediately walking over to Xion and Namine and promptly seated himself down next to Xion.

"That was pointless." He said aloud. "They sent the wrong guy for reading books and computer screens."

"Sup~"

No. VIII raised his head and turned to No. IX who waved at him.

Axel was about to ask the obvious question when Xion interrupted. "He grew bored after his mission today and came here."

The red head looked at the Melodic Nocturne.

"Larxene."

"Ah~"

That was a more believable excuse. The redhead can't stand her most of the time. He wondered why she even hung out with him.

"No luck again, Axel?" Namine asked.

He shook his head. "I don't even know what I'm researching or looking for half the time."

After hearing the vague answers from Zexion, Axel was forced to explore the Castle all the more deeper. Which meant he had to search through each and every floor of this place.

Even if he had to comb through his memories to do so.

"Are you alright Axel?" Xion asked in concern, placing a hand upon his back.

"Just fantastic." Came the sarcastic remark. "I need an ice cream bar, stat."

Xion produced one with him thanking her and got up out of his seat.

Walking over to the nearby fridge, he pulled out some beer and cracked a can open before chugging its contents.

"What's that?" Xion and Namine asked at the same time.

Parting his lips from the can, Axel simply said 'beer' before drinking more of it.

"What's beer?"

"Something you two kids should not have until you're older."

"Hey Axel, can ya-Oop." Demyx fumbled slightly with the can tossed in his direction. He laughed embarrassingly, popping his can open with his ability of water manipulation managing to keep the liquids inside from bubbling out.

Axel plopped back down again with a groan of relief. "I need a break. A day off or something."

"Day off?" Xion repeated inquisitively.

"Yeah, it's a day where we have no work and just relax." Axel explained.

"Oh~" Xion said in absolute wonder.

An entire day off? That sounds amazing. She could spend the whole day with Axel, Namine and…

Xion slumped slightly as she hung her head with a small frown appearing on her face. Something Axel noticed right away.

"What's eating ya, Xion?" Axel asked.

"I… I wonder where Roxas is." Xion said aloud. "The Organization hasn't found him yet."

"Tell me about it." Demyx remarked with an annoyed look. "I've been looking for him everywhere."

"Oh please Demyx, you and I both not that's not even remotely true."

"It is." No. IX jabbed a thumb at Xion. "She's my witness. Had to oversee her on some of these past days while we were not only searching for Roxas but taking care of the Heartless."

"Demyx, you were standing five feet away from the fighting half the time." Xion grumped with Axel snorting.

The water user cringed before grumbling to himself.

"Traitor…"

The somewhat relaxed atmosphere came to an end when a dark corridor appeared for a few seconds, receding back into the ground a moment later to reveal No. VII.

Instantly, Namine tilted her head down, Demyx groaned with only Axel and Xion regarding him with any sense of normalcy.

"Saix." Axel greeted. "What brings you all the way out here?"

"I am here to retrieve our two wayward members who need to return to the castle at once." Saix stated, looking between No. XIV and IX.

"Ain't they already done with work as is?" Axel asked, nonplussed by the Luna Diviner's cold attitude.

"With him, don't think so." Demyx groaned, chugging the last of the can's contents.

"And I must speak with you in private, Axel." Saix said in a tone that brokered no argument. "I have direct orders from the Superior."

"Oh boy." Axel said, knowing he wouldn't be able to argue on this one. "You heard 'im Xion, head on back. Namine and I will be waiting on ya tomorrow."

"Ok." Xion said dejectedly, Namine giving her a small smile of goodbye.

"Aurgh, way to ruin the mood." Demyx bemoaned.

In mere moments, both Xion and Demyx disappeared via the Dark Corridor.

"Come on." Axel gestured to Saix to follow after him. "Let's talk in the hallway."

No. VII nodded, momentarily looking over to Namine who was currently working on a new drawing.

Walking after Axel, the two were standing outside the room with the red head opting to lean comfortably on the wall.

"So, what does the big boss man have to say?"

"This has nothing to do with him." Saix responded, making Axel blink.

"Say what now?"

"I came here of my own volition."

"...Then what was up with the excuse?"

"I wished to see you."

Axel stared for a brief moment.

"Okay… missed you too bud."

"Not that way." Saix snapped.

Axel tilted his head in a patient manner. "Well, out with it then. Why come all the way out here for me?"

"Have you been able to find it?" Saix asked straight away.

The flat look No. VII received was all he needed to see.

"Are you kidding me with that, Saix? Have you seen the size of this place?" Axel asked rhetorically. "Looked high and low, far and wide through these blasted floors. Even with Zexion's help, we found squat. This place is way bigger on the inside. And it's very much alive."

Saix knew this to be true but he was not to be deterred. "That may be but the Castle's secrets might hold clues to what we seek."

Axel crossed his arms, a more stoic look appearing.

"Saix… Unless we can find the architect of this place or their blueprints, then we might as well start breaking through walls." Axel stated. "We got no blueprints, no nothing other than a few research facilities and a kooky system where our memories are literally brought to life."

"Almost like a defense mechanism." Saix added.

"Most likely."

The two were silent for a brief moment.

"You really think we'll find her here?" Axel asked after a few seconds.

"Perhaps a clue to her whereabouts."

"Yeah, the boss seems too interested in finding this Chamber." Axel snorted a moment later. "I'm surprised that you're still so determined to find her after all this time."

"And you're not?" Saix shot back, the grin falling from Axel's face.

"Hey." Axel's tone was sharp. "Just cause I don't show it, doesn't mean I have forgotten all about her."

"Truly?" Saix's tone was rather condescending.

"Blame one of the floors for the hard reminder."

"Or maybe we should talk about Roxas and Xion then."

Axel looked bewildered by this proclamation. "The hell is that supposed to mean? You got a problem with who I hang out with?"

"I have a problem with you shirking from our original intended goal." Saix shot back.

"Who's here in the castle working his ass off to find the room?" Axel countered.

Saix had no response to that.

Axel sighed, pushing himself off against the wall. "Look, we'll have no better chance of finding her separate then we are like this. We're still on the same page, are we not? So what I hang out with the new kids. I've always done that. But don't think for a second I've forgotten about our promise to her and each other."

His friend from their previous lifetime regarded him for a few moments.

"What can you remember about her going missing?"

"This again?"

"Indulge me."

Axel sighed, rubbing his forehead.

"Amnesiac with nothing at all in her head, not even her name. The old Wise man dubbed her "X". Axel recounted. "She became our friend and we became apprentices in order to keep a closer eye on her. Soon after, the old man went batshit, the other apprentices disappeared, us too and now we wake up as Nobodies waiting for our existence to wither away into nothingness. Is that it? Did I miss anything?"

"Hardly." Saix said, turning to gaze away from Axel in deep contemplation. "The Apprentices… the original six… the ones that made up the first six members of the Organization."

"What about them?"

"Do you not see it Axel? They may hold clues to what we are looking for."

Axel opened his mouth only to close it a second later, conceding to Saix's reason. He had a point there.

"I thought you wanted me to get rid of them." Axel said coolly.

"Plans change, as we have seen." Saix pointed out. "If we eliminate Zexion now without a justifiable reason, we would be no better than Marluxia and Larxene."

"How is the flower peddler doing?"

"What we need now is a more subtle approach." Saix went on. "And he has been put under Xemnas's watch for the foreseeable future."

"And the Nymph?"

"The same, only not so much as Marluxia's case."

"Alright, so what should we do then?"

"Zexion was the youngest of the apprentices. The most impressionable if my memory serves me correctly." Saix said. "Though I am unsure of how much he knows of her, there is a possibility he may have an inkling of an idea on where to start."

"You sure about this?"

"Only for what I am able to surmise."

Axel exhaled a tired sigh, rubbing his eyes.

"Alright, fine, I'll turn on the old charm." Axel said, bending his back with the sound of satisfying pops loosening his body. "See if I can get anything out of No. VI."

"See that you do."

"And lay off Xion, alright?" Axel added in just before Saix was to depart. "She's trying, you know? She's new to all this. She's not like you and me."

The Luna Diviner gazed upon his old friend.

"I shall make no promises over her."

Once No. VII traveled through the Dark Corridor, Axel scoffed and walked back to watch over Namine.

"Whatever you say, Isa."

-Scene Cut-

The shore leave on the Citadel was energetic at best. With the number of missions the team went through since their last time being here, they wanted to enjoy it as much as possible before it's end.

Since their arrival, the ground team went around in order to take care of a number of things. Business before pleasure, for obvious reasons.

First thing Shepard did was confront Nessana on her lies pertaining to her sister. The asari diplomate hid the truth due to blackmail and it would've ruined her credibility if her family relations came out.

Jane's ire was clear as day for all to see, not exactly enjoying the fact that she was essentially used. And Nessana was ready to pay for Shepard's services, yet the human Spectre told her to keep her "blood money" and whatever reward the diplomat had in mind for her before leaving her sight.

Shepard swore if she stayed any longer, she would've punched the asari in the face, much less than putting a bullet in her head.

Once that was taken care of, Jane ran into an Alliance Admiral by the name of Kahoku. Said man was far better than Admiral Mikhailovich in the personality department.

Anyways, the man requested her to hopefully find his missing squad of marines and he's been searching high and low for them, only to run into so many dead ends. He exhausted his personal resources, forcing him to seek through outside ones.

From what Jane learned, Kahoku got in contact with the Shadow Broker and found the location of their last known whereabouts on the planet Edolus, in the Sparta system of the Artemis Tau cluster. He would go after them, but his hands are tied and can't get to the location right away.

Feeling pity for the admiral, Shepard accepted the mission and would take care of the issue first thing once leaving the Citadel.

Seeing the distressed admiral off, Shepard decided to finally relax and find one or more of her crewmates.

And the first one on the list, the unresolved wardrobe issue with the youngest of her squadmates.

This time, Shepard would be accompanying Roxas in getting clothes and she promised by the day's end he'd have some proper attire.

Ashley and Tali had informed her of what had transpired from before so she would watch over the boy like a hawk as he gathered the clothing that interested him.

Eventually, they had settled upon a look and Jane was quite surprised at how he turned out.

Roxas chose to wear a black, high-collared jacket with a zipper with an odd symbol of some kind. Over this, he wore another jacket, this one unzipped and white, with several black block designs and a gray hem on the end of each sleeve. The jacket's collar was red and pleated and folded back.

He also wore two-colored pants; the legs of his pants were beige with several of what looked like buttons on the hem that appeared to attach the legs to the rest of the cloth, which were dark-colored. Roxas's shoes were colored in shades of gray and black and had red straps in place of laces. Finally, he wore a wristband with a black-and-white checkerboard pattern on his left wrist as well as a plain black ring on his left index finger and a plain white ring on his left middle finger.

When asked about why Roxas chose such clothing, he said he was surprised that they had something like this and that he wanted to wear something familiar.

"Thanks again for your help, Ms. Mode." Shepard said to the owner of the newly best clothing store on the Citadel. "Are you sure you don't want me to pay? A lot of this material looks really expensive."

"Don't worry, darling." Said the midget of a woman.

"Is there anything I could possibly do to pay you back? I mean you just opened up for business recently." Shepard urged. "Would you perhaps like a favor from me?"

"Shepard, darling, darling." Edna Mode said in an extravagant manner. "You are the first Human Spectre. A hero to us all in your own right. Simply you being here will boost my publicity to the stratosphere."

"We're on the Citadel."

"Figure of speech darling, come now." Edna said. "With you at the helm, my business will explode."

"But I haven't really done anything yet other than just being the first human Spectre." Jane pointed out.

"Only a matter of time, Shepard darling." Edna waved off. "Soon, word will spread of your frequent shopping at this store and I shall have my name known across the galaxy."

"So… you want an endorsement deal?"

"I wish for two." Edna said, walking over to the young Nobody. She somehow managed to "reach" up to him and pulled him down to her level.

"Why two?"

"Because I have one with this lovely young specimen." Edna cooed like she was talking to a baby as she pulled on his cheeks.

"Eeeeehh…"

"What do you have in mind with him?" Shepard asked sternly.

"Nothing too bad, I ensure you." Said the fashion designer. "Just some modeling."

"Modeling?"

"She basically means doing some poses in an array of clothing."

"Poses?" Roxas crossed his arms in thought with Shepard chuckling slightly.

"Just…" She paused for a moment, unsure if she should be going along with this.

But, she did not want to leave a favor unfulfilled and Roxas seems like the type of person who would share that sentiment.

"Just listen to what Edna tells you to the best of your ability." Shepard encouraged with a small thumbs up.

"And from you, darling…"

Jane sighed when she saw the nearby computer having a recorder set up. Knowing what she needed to do, she composed herself and spoke in a pleasant tone into it. "This is Commander Shepard and this is my favorite clothing store on the Citadel."

With the recording made, Edna played it back to see if it worked well, which in fact it did.

"Right, so when do you want Roxas to do some modeling sessions?"

"If you're asking about today, I'm booked solid with reservations and appointments. Perhaps the next time you two come back to the Citadel."

And by "perhaps" was more like "you will", judging by the short woman's tone of voice.

Jane let out a defeated sigh, slightly regretting this choice of action.

"Alright, a deal's a deal then."

"Wonderful." Edna Mode exclaimed, grabbing Shepard's hand and shaking it vigorously. "Let me know when you'll be back. And tell your associates of my product."

Once leaving the store, Shepard and Roxas were making their way to meet up with the others somewhere.

Soon enough, the Spectre and Nobody found the two human soldiers accompanying the blue furred alien some distance away.

"Stitch? Where've ya been all day?" Asked the commander.

"Busy stocking up on vinyl's." Kaidan remarked in slight amusement. "Found him carrying an entire stack of them. Sure attracted a lot of attention."

"Yeah, we're dealing with a first contact alien that we're passing off as a dog that clearly isn't one." Ashley reiterated.

Stitch then jumped up and down excitedly, holding up a strange object in his hand while babbling happily.

"What's that you got there, Stitch?" Shepard asked, squinting her eyes to try to get a better look at whatever it was Stitch had.

It was slightly disproportionate symmetrically but the shape was clear.

It was a metallic star of some kind that looked as though it was taped, hammered and welded together multiple times until it reached a satisfying look for Stitch.

The others were curious about this strange object that Stitch held…

But for Roxas, it was familiar to the point where he spoke without thinking.

"Wayfinder…"

Stitch laughed and nodded happily.

Wherein the others…

"Huh?"

"What was that?"

"What was what?"

"What you just said." Jane emphasized. "You said something just now."

"... I did?"

Jane only shook her head.

"You're a mystery Roxas, you know that?"

Roxas frowned, eyes gazing downward. "Sorry."

The three humans gazed at the young teen with Stitch simply hugging his "Wayfinder" to himself with a happy hum.

Jane reached out and ruffled the kids hair with a small smile.

"Not such a bad thing Roxas." Shepard remarked. "Least that makes you interesting."

Roxas couldn't help but feel a small smile appear on his face after hearing that.

Ashley, in the meantime, took the chance to look Roxas over as he was finally wearing something else.

"So by the looks of his new outfit, you finally got him proper clothes." Ashley stated.

"Yes I did." Jane said with a proud smile.

"Hopefully, it wasn't at that store we went to last time."

"Didn't go there." Roxas said. "Shepard said that if we did go there again and if she saw those two asari employee's she was gonna-"

He was interrupted when Jane covered up his mouth with her hand.

"You don't need to explain all of the details, Roxas." Jane sweetly said.

But there was an undertone to it that said otherwise.

Stop talking.

He looked at her in confusion, the look he was receiving conveying him to remain silent.

"Where did you two go, then?" Kaidan asked, watching in slight amusement at the interaction between Roxas and Shepard.

"This one store that just opened up. Must've happened since we were here last."

"I do find it strange his clothing looks a little… retro." Said Ashley.

"Right? Like back a century ago." Kaidan imputed.

"The owner designed the clothes herself, among other lines. But she doesn't just design regular clothing but durable ones and armors as well."

"Really?" Said the lieutenant. "Might check it out later."

"Hopefully, the armor isn't just for show, like one set I got a few years ago." Said the Gunnery Chief.

"That bad?"

"I won't get into the details."

"Fair enough." Kaidan said simply. "Where to now?"

Once getting in contact with the rest of their squad, the five Normandy members eventually made their way to the Zakara Wards. They met up and had some lunch from the local food stands.

After some time chatting and relaxing, Roxas suggested they go to this one place for some refreshing treats. Seeing nothing else to do until heading off, they complied.

Sitting at their nearby tables, the Normandy team were enjoying their tasty treats. Whereas Liara and Kaidan were having several ice-cream cones and popsicles, the others were having milkshakes.

And for Stitch… a lot of cake.

"This is becoming addictive now." Kaidan remarked. "Like way too addictive."

"I am finding myself longing for these more and more." Liara admitted, taking a bit out of her Sea-Salt ice cream bar.

"How do you eat this all the time Roxas?" Ashley asked, sipping on her own milkshake.

Roxas just shrugged as he finished off his second bar.

"Better yet, how do you do that without gaining any weight." The Gunnery Chief added.

"Have you forgotten our occupation?" Wrex brought up, making Ashley pause.

"Good point." she conceded.

With Garrus, he had been convinced by Tali to get himself a particularly pricy sea-salt milkshake since she was having the same one.

"I don't know Tali, that seems a bit much for one milkshake." Garrus said hesitantly. "How do I know it will be any good?"

"I like it."

"And that's supposed to be enough of a reason?" Garrus asked dryly.

"It's mostly a dextro treat after the owner made it, so yeah."

The C-Sec officer stared at his particular milkshake in the metal cup. Releasing a sigh, he swirled the straw a few times before taking a good sip. After a few moments, he reeled back.

"Damn!" Garrus mildly hissed. "That's one hell of a fucking good milkshake. Costs a lot but damn… worth it."

"What do you expect? It's a "dirty" shake for a reason, Garrus."

"Yeah, with your expensive Turian liqueur added into the mix."

Taking another sip, their Turian teammate hummed. "Okay, I admit… I'm starting to find it rather tasty, thank you very much."

"That's nothing." Wrex said, drinking his "dirty" shake from what's practically a bucket. "Mine's got ryncol in it."

"Hey, you know, I noticed something." Kaidan spoke up, gaining everyone's attention. "Has anyone noticed that these are not made for any species specifically?"

"What now?"

"I noticed that any vendor that serves these," Kaidan held up his sea salt ice cream. "They don't seem to make any alterations to it at all."

"They don't?" Tali inquired, looking down at her own sea-salt smoothie. "Then… wait, I've been eating them for a while now."

"I mean the only little difference I've seen are the "dirty" milkshakes of yours having specific alcohols added in. But that's just about it."

They were about to get more into their discussion when their Gunnery Chief spoke up.

"Uh guys, Stitch isn't moving." Ashley spoke aloud, causing everyone to look to the currently unconscious fuzzball laying on the table with his face flat against the metal.

"Stitch?" Shepard reached out and shook him gently.

He didn't respond.

"Stitch?" Shepard repeated the process, moving him about just a bit more than last time.

This time, they heard a pained groan.

Wordlessly, Roxas went over to the little guy and pushed him over onto his back to see 626's face covered in frosting and his belly being particularly swollen.

"The hell?" Ashley said in bemusement. "How many cakes did he eat?"

"Is he in a sugar-coma?" Jane asked, poking Stitchs' face which only twitched in response.

"Isn't the correct term a diabetic shock?"

"I don't know if that term really applies for him." Garrus quipped, gazing at the unmoving furball whose tongue was hanging out the side of his jaw.

"...Who's gonna give him mouth to mouth?"

"Not it!"

"Out of my way." Wrex walked straight up to Stitch and pounded his fist against his stomach.

The reaction was instant with Stitch jolting up right with his arms raised in a ready position when…

"Oh no~"

He plopped down again, ears twitching.

"Huh… was about to suggest tossing him into the nearby fountain."

"Why would you think that?"

"I think it's best we just have him ride it out." Tali suggested. "He just needs some rest."

"Agreed."

"Strange to think we found him on Feros." Garrus commented. "How'd a guy like him get here?"

"Better yet, where is he even from?" Liara added with open intrigue despite the rather comical position the little guy was in right now.

"You remember seeing his ship on the Normandy?" Said the Quarian. "When I was helping out a little, I saw a whole number of things I wasn't familiar with."

"Same here." Garrus piped in. "The tech in there ain't like anything I've ever seen before."

"Nothing he owns is anything like we've ever seen." Ashley said dramatically.

"Except for the memorabilia."

"Could've swiped it off from poor sod of a Pyjak." Wrex added in his few credits.

"But stuff being in mint condition, supposedly being hundreds of years old?"

"A rich sod, then."

"So he crashed his ship on Feros." Kaidan murmured. "There's a story."

"Yeah, if only we could understand half his gibberish."

"True, but I also gotta wonder how many laws we are breaking for actual first contact."

None of the Normandy team wanted to address that problem out in the open.

Thankfully the Turian quickly changed subjects.

"By the way, how is Feros?" Garrus asked, looking to Shepard. "Any word from the colonists or news that everything is alright over there?"

"The colonists of Feros are well enough despite what happened to their home." Jane stated. "They'll be back on their feet soon enough."

"As long as ExoGeni doesn't screw them over again."

"Agreed."

...When thinking about the colonists, the Quarian wondered about having a proper home her people could have if the Council allowed them to colonize a planet.

It would've been a nice to have, letting them take root after drifting the stars for 300 years. Yet that couldn't really happen for two reasons.

For one, the Council is still biased and punishing her people for the actions of her ancestors. It wasn't fair at all, something many non-Quarians could sympathize with.

Many of her fellow Normandy crew members were among those who she knows.

The other problem was that if given the chance to colonize, the planet needs to be nearly identical to Rannoch due to several factors.

Quarian immune systems have always been relatively weak, even before their forced exile, as pathogenic microbes were comparatively rare in their home world's biosphere. One instance was the lack of insects, which was a contributing factor to many other details. Furthermore, what few viruses and other microbes were native to their homeworld were often at least partly beneficial to them, giving them a symbiotic relationship with the environment.

After years of being in their suits, it would take years for them to properly integrate with a planet's environment. Even if they can't take back Rannoch anytime soon, finding a proper home would be truly hard.

"Fancy running into you two again."

Tali came out of her thoughts, looking over and saw Septimus Oraka again with an asari by his side.

"Hello again." Roxas greeted.

When Garrus saw the Turian general, he sat up straighter before giving a firm nod to the man. Septimus saw this and gave one back in return.

"What are you and Sha'ira doing here?"

"A little outing before I get deployed again." Said Septimus.

The asari consort beside the general soon addressed the Nobody.

"Roxas." Sha'ira greeted him kindly. "It appears that once again, I owe you a great debt."

"What for?" Roxas asked in confusion.

The Consort only smiled with a small shake of her head. "Be he ever so modest and humble in the future as you are now."

This of course only proved to further befuddle the Nobody who wasn't really that well versed in word play as of yet.

"You rescued a dear student of mine." Sha'ira said patiently. "It may have been a brief moment for you but saving someone dear to me is far more important than my reputation."

Thinking it over for a moment, Roxas recalled the last time he was here on the Citadel and…

"Nelyna." Roxas remembered the name of the Acolyte at last.

"Glad that you remember her." The Consort stated. "For she remembers you quite well. Your dashing heroics and noble deeds in saving her and many other lives that day."

Roxas didn't really know how to respond to such praise. All he did was what he had to.

He wasn't just about to allow for her to get consumed by the Heartless. That would be a cruel fate for anyone to endure.

"I wish there was time for me to repay you for what you have done." Sha'ira said, looking back to the Turian general. "But I have prior obligations and promises to attend to."

She placed a hand upon Roxas' cheek with an affectionate smile.

"The next time we see each other, I will reward you properly Roxas." The Consort said. "I can assure you of that much."

With those final words, she departed with Septimus who nodded at Roxas and Garrus, leaving them with his arm linked with Sha'ira.

"Well that was… nice I suppose." Garrus quipped. "It seems you have many admirers on the Citadel."

Roxas only scratched his head with some of the others chuckling at the boy.

"Anyone else got suggestions on what to do for shore leave?" Kaidan asked, his ice cream stick dangling from the corner of his mouth.

"Well… I heard of this place that just opened up over at the Silversun Strip."

-Scene Cut-

The place where they ended up no was certainly busy with all of the commotion going around. Lights flashed left and right, different music blaring in the background. And many people were enjoying themselves to the fullest with whatever activity they were participating in.

This place, the Silversun Strip, was certainly different from the Zakara Wards and the Presidium by a long shot.

"Never heard of this place before." Tali muttered aloud.

"Not many people do apparently." Liara stated. "It's more inclined to the more well-off individuals."

"You would not believe the amount of times I had to come here when I was a freshly minted detective." Said Garrus.

"Really? How so?"

The Turian jabbed a thumb over at the Silver Coast Casino. "Had a few cases over at the casino nearby."

"Oh? Like what?"

Garrus adopted a thinking pose for a moment. "Let's see… there was an illegal Varren fighting pit one time. A racketeering deal I had to help bust. And the more challenging one I had dealt with involved a hacker messing around with the gambling machines while funneling credits in the process."

"That sounded fun."

"Yeah… it was… running around most of the Citadel to back trace the source at various areas was not very enjoyable."

"And did you catch the guy?"

"Well… here's the thing about the perp, he wasn't actually a person, but an AI."

"Are you serious?"

"I am."

"But… why would an AI want to funnel credits? It doesn't make sense."

"I asked the same thing, only to get the vague response that it wanted to get off the Citadel." Garrus informed. "I assumed afterwards it was to just make a new body for itself or move it's closed circuited platform out of this station and move elsewhere."

"So what happened?"

"When I found the platform, the AI threatened to blow up with a blast radius of 12 meters. Was able to disable the AI and shut it down for good before the timer went off."

"Tell me, did your superiors at least believe the report?"

"A few didn't, thinking I was lying when I didn't come back with the perp. Others were a little open minded as they helped me funnel the credits back to the casino."

Satisfied on hearing the tale, they soon passed by another establishment on the strip.

"Played a few games of Keresh-Yakshi over at the Castle Arcade when I was last there." Said their asari teammate.

"Keresh-Yakshi? What's that?" Roxas asked.

"It translates to 'blade of the night winds'." Liara translated before explaining. "It requires strategic and incisive thinking in order to win with its own system of moves, tactics, diversions and gambits.

"In the more simplest of terms, Roxas, it's space-chess." Said the commander.

"Be careful with some of the arcade games there, runt. They are extremely addictive and you'd be burning through credits like no tomorrow." Wrex informed.

"And how would you know?"

"The stupid claw game is bloody rigged." The Krogan soon growled. "I swear the person who made that machine was a Salarian."

"I bet you're just a sore loser who can't get the timing and patience right."

"What were you trying to win anyways?"

"This one weapons mod on display." Wrex then explained the reason. "Specs were convincing in making me want one. Should've just bought the damn thing upfront rather than wasting just the same amount of credits in hopes of winning."

"And what did you win anyways?"

"Too many fucking plushies. Used them for target practice though. And the music I got was a little mixed."

As the group kept walking by, Roxas took a glance to a nearby restaurant.

"Hmm… Noodle House. Wonder if that place is any good."

"Stand is still my favorite ramen." Said the Quarian.

"You're just saying that cause you haven't eaten at any other ramen shop."

"You too, Roxas."

"Same applies with your ice cream, kid. You don't bother eating any other flavor."

The group laughed a little in the process.

"Where's this Arena place you guys are talking about?" Asked the Nobody.

"Just up ahead, Roxas."

It wasn't long before Roxas gazed upon the large establishment on the Silversun Strip, one of the more popular areas this place had.

The Armax Arsenal Arena.

From what he was told on the way over here, it was in all intents and purposes a battle simulator. An individual or a group of people can go in and sign up for a number of rounds in the fully-immersive holographic environment and chosen scenarios.

While it's mostly a good rigorous activity for the participants, it's often a public spectacle depending on who is playing the simulator. Said people can watch the event from either the upper areas or the bar nearby.

And while playing the simulator is fun and all, most players go in it for other reasons. Some are just for mundane recognition, others go in it for the prizes at the company store, which has all sorts of stuff from armors, weapons and mods for the more battle hardened individuals.

Coming towards the front desk, the female Turian receptionist spoke to the Normandy crew. "Welcome to Armax Arsenal Arena. What can I do for you today?"

"Hello, I would like to reserve a game session please." Shepard requested.

"Certainly." The female Turian typed on her console. "Name?"

"Commander Jane Shepard, Council Spectre."

The receptionist hummed upon hearing the name. "Ah~ Commander Shepard, glad to see you grace our establishment today. Since you're new here and as a Council Spectre, your first session is for free. After that, you'll have to pay; with a discount of course." She kept typing away and pulled up the designated information. "So would you perhaps like a solo match or with a team?"

"Team match please."

"Of course. And who would be participating with you today?"

Looking behind her, she saw her squad with some leaning on nearby walls and seats and some standing straight and awaiting her choice with anticipation.

Glancing over to Roxas, he was seated at a bench with Stitch having apparently fallen asleep while leaning on him. Next to him sat Tali who was going through something on her Omni-tool with her chatting with Kaidan.

She thought of having Roxas take part in this but chose against it. The blue eyed blonde was a fighter, no doubt, but he barely has any experience in firearms.

Shortly after recruiting Liara from Therum, Jane had requested Ashley to help teach him how to use some guns. She thought he shouldn't rely on his Keyblade all the time while thinking there might be a time when he won't have access to it.

Precautious she might be, but she wanted her team prepared.

From what Ash had told him he was average at best. Even with the basic requirement, Shepard won't allow Roxas to participate on this "training simulator" until he has more firearm experience.

More so on the fact that she doesn't know how many people would react in seeing him whip out his Keyblade from out of nowhere.

Her thoughts then drifted onto Stitch.

The little rascal of an alien has been interesting to fight with since Feros. The assignments he took part in had changed things up considerably and would make an interesting sight when in the simulator.

But then came a problem, Stitch's identity had to remain a secret and if he participated, his cover would be blown. He is in all intents and purposes a first contact alien of unknown origin. And Jane fears what might happen if he is exposed.

After the small thought process, Shepard thought on the others and eventually came to a decision.

Once giving the names of her teammates to the receptionist, Shepard was soon greeted with a screen for whatever else she wanted to possibly do for their upcoming game.

There were a number of categories to choose from with specific opponents. There were the Geth, several mercenary groups, and representatives of each of the Council race's very own militaries and many more. There were even options for ground vehicles, flyers, biotics, techs, etc. etc.

Giving a glance over, she promptly selected her desired matchups for the several rounds she and her team will face.

"Alright, that seems to be everything." Said the female Turian. "If you'll wait by your team, we'll inform you when the stage is set."

Shepard gave her 'thanks' before walking over to the others.

Garrus was the first to spot the commander coming towards them.

"So?"

"Got a game set up for us."

"Right, but who's tagging along with you?"

The question drew in the attention of the other team members.

"You, Garrus, Ashley and Liara."

When hearing the given names, the team members varied on their reaction.

For those chosen… Ashley merely gave a firm nod with a smile on her face. Garrus merely chuckled. And Liara was a little hesitant before mustering herself in confirmation.

The others however… Kaidan merely shrugged in acceptance. Tali was a little silent. Roxas didn't give much of a reaction. And as for Stitch and Wrex… they grumbled.

"Don't worry, big guy, next time we come here you'll definitely tag along."

"I'll hold you to that, Shepard."

"Commander Shepard," spoke the receptionist from the intercom. "Commander Shepard please report to the arena."

"That was fast." Jane muttered before addressing her chosen squad. "Alright, let's go in and have some fun."

Ashley, Garrus and Liara soon followed Shepard as they made their way down to the lower level to access the arena.

Seeing them off, Kaidan spoke up. "Since we'll be lounging back and all, does anyone want anything from the stands nearby? I'm paying."

"I thought you'd be still full of the meal and ice cream earlier." Tali pointed out.

"I know, but just want a little something to drink is all." Said the lieutenant. "So…?"

Seeing the offer being made, Tali and Wrex gave their small request whereas Roxas was a little indecisive. As for Stitch… well he was still out.

"I'll be back, hopefully before the match starts. If not, well, there's plenty of monitors around..."

The others didn't pay the lieutenant not much mind as they waited patiently for the match to start for their fellow squadmates.

After a number of minutes, the monitors around the establishment blared to life with the announcement being made.

"Ladies and gentlemen, it's combat time in the Armax Arsenal Arena!" Blared the voice of an automated feminine VI.

When overlooking the space through the monitors, the present squadmates saw it was rather big. More so with four of the Normandy team being present in the huge rectangular room.

It wasn't long before more light appeared in the arena, revealing that the Normandy members were standing in a circular arena. It was divided into two sections: the inner and outer rings. The inner was more confined than the outer one.

As the fanfare music was playing, the Armax VI resumed speaking.

"For the first time here, human Spectre Commander Shepard and her team will face several rounds of skirmishes: starting in 5…"

Over in the arena, Shepard quickly orders her squadmates to spread themselves out behind some pieces of terrain for a defensive formation.

"4…"

The human Spectre and her companions were quickly checking their armaments one final go around.

"3…"

In an instant, various areas of the fighting arena flared to life with orange digitized light forming the opponents on this round.

"2…"

The holographic enemies started solidifying as the Normandy squad quickly aimed their weapons at their opposition.

"1… Round One!"

The moment the light died down; the Normandy squad was now facing up against digitized representations of the Geth.

"Interesting choice you made, Skipper." Stated the Gunnery Chief, quickly unloading a volley of bullets at some Shock Troopers.

Jane gave her excuse, tossing a grenade at a small pack of the synthetic race. "We have been fighting them quite a lot lately. Would be good to use them as a warmup."

"I most certainly agree, Shepard." Said the asari, throwing a biotic warp at a few Geth drones.

"Hopefully, the next few rounds will give us more of a challenge." Said Garrus, aiming down on his scope and firing at Geth from a distance.

Shepard soon rolled out of cover before barreling into a group of Geth. The sound of her shotgun barked out repeatedly, causing several synthetics to disappear in a spray of orange holographic lights.

In several moments, other Geth opened fire on her armored form, her kinetic shields took the impact of many holographic mass accelerated rounds. Swinging her head to face the offending Geth, a biotic field encompassed her hand as she punched a Geth across the head. As it staggered, she delivered a spartan kick at its midsection to send it tripping back onto the neighboring ring. Once on its back, she fired several pistol rounds into its flashlight head as it disbursed into digitized light.

"Kill streak!"

Ashley was occasionally rushing in between cover as her pulse rifle rapidly fired onto a couple of Geth drones. With them fading away, the Gunnery Chief tossed a grenade onto a few troopers. When it went off, their shields went down, giving her the opening to fire down on them with her shotgun once she got in close. The incendiary rounds she carried did wonders in taking them down in a second or two later.

"Fantastic!"

Liara quickly threw up a biotic shield just in time when several rockets were soaring towards her position. When they detonated, the asari skidded back from the combined blast. A few more came her way but were blasted from out of the air by Garrus' well timed shots. The archaeologist gave the detective a thankful nod before turning back to fire a few pistol rounds into a Geth drone. Once it was down, she flung a few warps here and there to allow Garrus to shoot those synthetics while they were airborne.

"Williams!" Liara called out the Gunnery Chief, flinging a Geth Shock Trooper in her direction via biotic throw.

Whirling around, Ashley saw the oncoming Geth and instinctively shot the synthetic being down with her incendiary rounds causing it to burst then to just burn. Giving her Asari teammate a roguish grin, she went over to join Shepard in taking down a Geth Juggernaut.

As Roxas continued to watch the match go on, beside him, he failed to notice the somewhat inconspicuous looks that Tali kept giving him.

Several times now, by this point, Tali had been finding herself shifting in her seat every few minutes or so. To some, it may look as though she was just adjusting herself to be comfortable.

But to others who were experts at reading body language, it was clear to see that something was truly bothering her.

The more she got a good look at Roxas' new attire, the more she knew that whatever that dream she had last night wasn't no coincidence.

How is it that she had a dream where she literally saw Roxas wearing the same thing he has on right now?

'Keelah.' Tali internally thought to herself, recalling the dream once again.

It was so vivid and clear.

Every time she thought about it, it came to her so clearly and distinctly. The sights, the sounds, environment around her.

What were those places?

That strange mansion, the circular white room with the thirteen elevated chairs.

What did this all mean?

Once again, she slightly tilted her head in a manner where she wasn't looking at Roxas but was able to get a clear look at him.

Studying his eyes, Tali compared them to that of the ones he had in her dreams. Brief as they were when seeing them, they were so… empty.

Beyond blank.

Just an endless void within that held nothing.

It was genuinely unsettling for her to see the boy she had grown to view as a close friend have such lifeless eyes.

When comparing them both, the Roxas before her, while his eyes held a certain blankness to him there was also a great deal of curiosity of just about… well, everything.

He had always asked her and the others in so many situations and scenarios that it was hard to keep track of them all. He always seemed bent on learning about anything and everything he can, regardless of circumstance save for the time to fight.

Thinking on this matter and calling it strange was becoming redundant by this point.

Tali thought about how Roxas had Amnesia; she truly wondered if this was to be true? How is it that his Amnesia was so bad that he forgot basically everything?!

From the way he expressed and conveyed himself, this didn't seem to be a falsehood. Nothing about his tone inflection, body language or eye movement showed that he was being deceitful.

He was being honest.

Or he was just a really good liar.

The Quarian though soon scoffed at the idea.

Roxas lying?

He was too straightforward to lie.

She looked back ahead to the screen displaying Commander Shepard with the rest of her squadmates finishing off the last of their opponents in the first round. Wrex and Kaidan had apparently moved to get a closer look with Stitch having appeared to have awoken and was standing atop Wrex's armor to observe with them both.

Kaidan had brought back the drinks he spoke of, Tali noticing hers and Roxas' were placed beside her.

Stitch was enjoying a snack Alenko had bought as well, the trio now observing the match intently with Tali and Roxas sitting comfortably behind them on their bench.

That was until they were joined by an unexpected individual.

"Excuse me? Is this seat taken?" asked a smooth, accented feminine tone.

Roxas and Tali looked up from the match to a woman in her mid to late twenties possibly with porcelain white skin, jet black hair and a form fitting red dress that accentuated every single curve on her body.

To say that she was beautiful(?)… well, Roxas had never seen anyone like her before.

Still, he had much to learn so he simply nodded down to the empty seat next to him and turned back to the match at hand.

The woman arched a brow at the lackluster response but took it in stride, seating herself by the young teen. Out of the corner of her eye, she immediately took note of the Quarian seated on the teens other side with the glowing eyes beneath the helmet being firmly directed at her.

Ignoring the look of suspicion, the older woman settled into watching the match before her with her eyes gazing over the strange blue creature that was atop the Krogan.

'What in the world?' the ravenette thought internally in confusion.

What was that thing supposed to be?

Shaking her head, she returned her focus on the firefight going on right now but she made a subtle shift with her hips that would move slightly closer to the teenage boy beside her.

He showed no response or reaction, simply continuing to watch his teammates prepare for the next round.

Leaning back into her seat, she crossed her legs and folded her arms underneath her rather well-endowed bust.

"Are you enjoying the match?" the woman asked, making the blond teen finally look to her.

She took a moment to get a proper look at his face, noting how youthful he appeared at face value with his lean face, crystal blue eyes and sandy blond hair. Yet… when she took a moment to gaze into the boy's eyes, the brunette-haired woman found herself rather unsettled at what gazed back at her.

They were unusually… lifeless if that's how she would describe them.

Yes, there was a spark of some kind, something that showed more than the empty blue she saw. But still, it was as if she was gazing upon a blank canvas.

The boy merely shrugged, turning back to the match.

On Roxas's other side, Tali couldn't help but feel a slightly amused sense of satisfaction with her friend appearing to disregard the incredibly gorgeous woman seated next to him.

With the first round complete, the automated feminine voice spoke up. "Round One complete! Get ready for the next round!"

Shepard and co took a moment to collect themselves.

"Well, that wasn't so bad." Ashley remarked with a shrug. "Thought they'd be a bigger pain in the ass like they usually are."

"I think we're getting used to them." Garrus commented, adjusting his scope.

"Strange." Liara had her Biotics around her. "I find this quite invigorating."

"Get ready to use that energy then." Shepard said with a roguish grin as the VI began counting down to the next round.

"5…"

Over in the arena, Shepard quickly orders her squadmates to ready themselves once again.

"4…"

The human Spectre and her companions were quickly checking their armaments once more.

"3…"

More orange digitized light appeared as the next round's opponents were forming up.

"2…"

The holographic enemies started solidifying as the Normandy squad quickly aimed their weapons at their opposition.

"1… Round Two!"

Up ahead, the appearance of Turians, Humans, Batarians being accompanied by bipedal mechs that were identified as YMIR's and their quadrupedal counterparts, FENRIS.

"The Blue Suns?" Garrus said in surprise, recognizing the unifying armor that they all wore.

"Yes. Got a problem with that, Garrus?"

"No, just surprised is all."

"Why's that?"

Garrus quickly made a headshot on a human Blue Sun member before scoping down a Turian member. "We haven't come across any well-known mercenary groups in our past missions up till now."

"True. The only mercenaries we came across have been small time and up and coming." Ashley said, rolling a frag grenade to a few mercenaries. It soon exploded as she rolled out of cover to fire her pulse rifle.

"Stay in formation." Shepard instructed, Biotics flaring. "Liara, you and I are crowd control. They'll likely try flanking us. Garrus, cover us. Ashley, you're our heavy duty fire power, prep those inferno rounds."

"Inferno rounds?"

"What? Incendiary has too many syllables." Jane said defensively.

Their little exchange was cut short as the Blue Suns began firing upon them, having both Liara and Shepard threw up Biotic barriers to absorb the oncoming first wave of fire.

Over with the other Normandy members, the ravenette occasionally broke her concentration away from the monitors. Reason being, she was examining the rest of Shepard's crew.

More so on the blue furred alien.

"Don't mind me asking this, but what is that?"

The others visibly tensed in varying degrees, in Wrex's case none at all.

"That's Stitch." Roxas replied.

"Stitch? And what is he?"

"Our… dog." Roxas recalled the excuse that was given to him.

"Your dog?" Questioned the ravenette.

"Bark! Bark!"

The ravenette stared, trying to make sense of what she just watched this "Stitch" do.

"Doesn't look like any breed I've ever seen."

"Found him in a lab." Wrex said quickly. "Genetically modified."

She looked at the Krogan Battle master and then at the blue alien… who was picking his nose with his tongue.

'Bloody hell.' The ravenette internally said in disgust.

"Curious…" Was the woman's muttered response, not wanting to sound rude at all.

Stitch then jumped from Wrex to Roxas, plopping himself atop his head and looking back at the ongoing match within the arena.

"Very curious…"

Back in the arena, Shepard had caught a FENRIS mech with her Biotics before flinging it into a group of Blue Suns.

Ashley had quickly followed up on the opportunity Shepard created by tossing several grenades that completely destroyed the cluster of enemies.

"Kill-tacular!"

Garrus was forced to break away from his cover when a FENRIS mech came to his position. Rolling out of the way, he swapped his sniper rifle for his assault rifle, quickly unloading a volley of rounds into the charging dog-like mech. Once collapsing onto the ground, the orange digitized mist filled the air as it gave way to a Turian Blue Sun member to charge right through.

With the close quarters combat, Garrus was forced to momentarily go into hand-to-hand combat. Weaving through the incoming punches before snagging an offending arm. Twisting around, the detective quickly drew his pistol and shot the digitized Turian at the back of his head.

As the digitized body was barely decomposing, Garrus kicked the body into a Batarian member. With the Batarian down, the detective fired his pistol a few more times right before tossing a grenade at an incoming group of LOKI mechs, reducing them to digitized scrap.

Another Turian attempted to get the jump on him but gave away his position when he ran forward and alerted the C-sec detective to his presence. Whirling around in time to see the Turian brandish an Omni-blade, Garrus managed to sidestep him in time and grabbed the merc's wrist.

Using the momentum of the Blue Sun against him, he spun the Turian around until he managed to angle the arm of the Omni-blade with the tip being directed right under the Turians jaw.

The Turian couldn't help but pause to himself after watching the body turn into digital bits and pieces.

A moment later, he rolled his shoulders with a smug, pretending to have a suit to give himself an imaginary flicker.

"Heh… badass."

Liara was handling several of the blue suns on her own, using a crate as cover as they kept firing on her.

She knew that if she were to stay here any longer, they would just outflank due to them having the numbers to do so.

So she had to take a page out of Shepard's book.

Bring the fight to them.

The asari erected a barrier in order to protect herself from the incoming fire. Walking as close as she could, she tossed a few grenades in and let them set off. On the initial explosion, the archaeologist rushed forward and performed a diving roll. The act momentarily surprised the digitized mercenaries as they tried to act quickly. Yet their runtimes weren't fast enough for the biotic warp Liara brought out.

With them held off, Liara drew her pistol and fired as fast as she could onto her digitized opponents before they started becoming orange motes of light.

With the second round complete, the automated feminine voice spoke up. "Round Two complete! Get ready for the next round!"

"Not bad." Wrex murmured approvingly.

"Not bad?" Kaidan repeated in amusement. "That was pretty hardcore if you ask me."

"That last one with Garrus was a tad bit gruesome." Tali admitted, grimacing at the means in which the digital Blue Sun perished.

Stitch jabbered out a few of his alien words, making pew pew sounds all the while.

"I most certainly agree."

The present Normandy team, plus the ravenette, looked over and saw the recent arrival.

Kaidan snapped to a salute with Wrex merely grunting in acknowledgement.

"At ease, Alenko."

"Captain Anderson, sir." Kaidan said with the utmost respect. "I don't mean to come across as rude but what brought you here today?"

Anderson shrugged, head turning to the ongoing match in the arena.

"I actually have an apartment not far from here and it's my day off. Wanted to get some fresh air and go for a walk. And to my surprise I come across here and see the commander taking up a match."

Kaidan nodded as he tried to get comfortable again from the unexpected arrival of the captain.

Said man looked over and greeted the other members of Shepard's team. Each of them gave one in return.

When Anderson gazed on Stitch, he was quite curious as to what this being was.

"Ah yes, Miss Tali'Zorah, correct?"

Tali was surprised by the attention she had just received. "Yes, Captain Anderson?"

"No need for formalities." Anderson waved off. "You're not part of our military so no need for it."

"I know that, but you rightfully deserve it."

"I appreciate the thought, Ms. Zorah."

"Then what was it that you wanted?"

"Why to properly thank you of course."

"Thank me? For what?"

"Ms. Zorah, if it was not for your timely arrival on the Citadel and the beginning of your pilgrimage, we wouldn't have been able to get the damning evidence to get Saren removed as a Spectre and have Shepard instated as one."

"Oh, of course." Tali was a bit bashful now at the praise. "You're welcome."

"And I've been hearing reports from Admiral Hackett on your recent contributions. Very well done on the recent Geth incursion." Anderson said with a kind smile.

Well if the previous compliment wouldn't make her blush with embarrassment at such high praise, this most certainly would.

When Anderson was waiting for the next round to commence, he gazed at the sandy blonde teen amongst the group.

He had read Shepard's reports and tried to focus on Roxas' contribution to them. Some of the details seemed rather vague, redacted in a manner of speaking. The Alliance Captain could tell there were definitely bits of information not really connecting and adding up.

After all, Anderson practically raised Jane as her foster father ever since Mindoir. Give him some bits of time and he can see through his foster daughter's little secrets.

"5…"

Over in the arena, Shepard quickly orders her squadmates to ready themselves once more.

"4…"

The human Spectre and her companions were quickly checking their armaments.

"3…"

More orange digitized light appeared as the next round's opponents were forming up.

"2…"

The holographic enemies started solidifying as the Normandy squad quickly aimed their weapons at their opposition.

"1… Round Three!"

From the outside of the arena, Wrex quickly grew more interested.

"Huh, interesting that Shepard decided to bring in the Blood Pack."

Roxas and Tali briefly looked at their Krogan teammate before gazing back at the monitors. There they saw the assembly of Krogan, Vorcha and Varren all appear before Shepard's team.

"What's so special about them?"

"They are really ruthless, for one. And they often work on raids and piracy." Anderson commented. "You would not imagine the amount of trouble my men deal with the likes of them."

Back in the arena, Shepard was practically chuckling at the expressions her squadmates currently wore.

"Oh crap." Garrus said aloud with his eyes widening.

"Shepard." Liara said worriedly.

"What? You guys wanted a challenge, right?"

"God dammit Skipper."

Shepard only prepped her gun, a mischievous smile appearing as the Blood Pack data Mercs charged forward.

"God dammit Skipper." Ashley yelled once more, stumbling slightly as she unloaded her Inferno Rounds on two Krogan and a Varren that made a beeline for her.

The Vorcha of the Pack ran after Liara and Shepard, the latter firing out a stasis field that caught several of them with the former utilizing a Biotic throw.

Switching to her new weapon, Liara targeted the Vorcha that were recovering from her throw and fired at their limbs.

While she may not have the accuracy that Garrus is able to pull off, her gun compensates with the range that it covers. The shots hit their joints causing them to stagger and be unable to move until they were finished off.

"Well, glad they work." Liara remarked.

But internally, she was wondering what genuinely practical use she would have for this weapon. It seemed a bit unnecessary and underpowered in comparison to those that her friends and companions held.

Regardless, she was given this weapon for a reason. She would make use of it and not let her team down.

Over with Ashley, her Krogan problem had now been replaced with a Varren problem.

A small litter of Varren came rushing in, mouths snarling towards their coming prey. Acting quickly, Ashley jumped up and leaped off the nearest arena wall to give her some additional height. Briefly airborne, the Gunnery Chief fired off several shotgun rounds. Her barks soon overcame the opposing ones as they dispersed into orange moats.

Landing on the ground, Ashley spat. "Bad boys! Stay down!"

Before she got the chance to move elsewhere, her kinetic shields were quickly broken down. Ducking for cover, she peaked over slightly and saw the one responsible was a Vorcha sniper. She was about to try to find another vantage point when she soon noticed a number of additional Vorcha proceeding to her position.

Seeing as she might get overrun, temporarily, she pulled out her pistol. Using two firearms at once isn't her usual style as it's often sloppy. But for the time being, she'll need the extra damage.

Pulling the pistol's trigger, Ashley saw the first bullet graze against a Vorcha while another shot the same one as it tumbled over slightly. She then fired off her shotgun when another Blood Pack member came in close. The recoil was not that great while doing it one handed, but it served her purpose. Using the recoil, she spun her arm to bat another Vorcha across the head before firing off a few pistol rounds.

Ashley's shields flared to life just as it reformed and it didn't take much guesswork for her to know it came from the same sniper.

She was now starting to get overwhelmed, forcing the Gunnery Chief to retreat to a better position. As she fled, Ashley could feel her kinetic barrier getting hit a lot more often by the opposing Vorcha. When her shield broke, Ashley didn't know what would come next.

Suddenly an explosion went off behind her, sending the incoming Vorcha up into the air. And one by one, they were shot down.

"Hey! That's no way in treating a lady!" Garrus roared, firing a number of rounds into the airborne Blood Pack members. Knowing that these required a bit more firepower, he switched to its more upgraded form and fired a single shot that burst and struck down the multiple Varren that pursued Ashley.

"Thanks for the assist."

"Anytime."

On the other side of the arena, Shepard unfortunately had to deal with a pair of angry Krogan. These two bastards appeared hell bent on taking her out directly.

One got a little close to her.

So, her natural reaction was to rear her head back and bash her head against the data Krogan.

Immediately, she winced and began rubbing her head to stem the pain.

Of the observers, one Battlemaster guffawed aloud at the sight of the Commander attempting such a matter.

With her distracted from her headache, one of the Krogan snatched her by the neck and hoisted her up into the air.

Taking a page from Tali's book, Shepard activated her Omni-tool and had it form the Omni-blade. She drove the hard light weapon into the Krogan's head a number of times before she was let go. As the heavyset alien staggered about, Jane quickly whipped out her shotgun and fired at its wounded head.

With the orange moats filling the air, the final Krogan came in to fight Shepard one by one. It charged right at her, causing the Spectre to use a Biotic throw to throw the holographic enemy off balance. Before it recovered, Shepard momentarily used a Statis on it to keep the Krogan in place. Once close, she punched the Blood Pack member several times across the face before the Omni-blade flared to life. The hard light construct pierced through its head, soon dismantling the digitized enemy.

With the third round complete, the automated feminine voice spoke up. "Round Three complete! Get ready for the final round!"

"Phew." Shepard panted slightly. "That wasn't so bad, was it?"

"If you say so."

"Would be worse if they were the real deal."

"Thank god the safety was on or else we might've gotten seriously hurt."

"Next time, give a heads up when you wanna throw the damn Blood Pack on our ass's Skipper." Ashley deadpanned.

"No promises."

"5…"

Shepard quickly ordered her squadmates to ready themselves one more time.

"4…"

The human Spectre and her companions were quickly checking their armaments.

"3…"

More orange digitized light appeared as the next round's opponents were forming up.

"2…"

The holographic enemies started solidifying as the Normandy squad quickly aimed their weapons at their opposition.

"1… Round ERROR! ERROR! ERROR!"

The four-man squad momentarily paused, their forms relaxing slightly as alarms began to blare.

"What's going on?" Liara asked aloud.

Ashley was tense now looking around nervously with Shepard looking upwards.

"Hey, the hell you mean by "error"?"

Garrus all the while kept his gaze on the data moats that were erratic and unable to form properly.

The mass of swirling holographic moats started changing color. In mere moments, dark vapors swirled around the moats before encompassing them all into darkened cocoons.

"Oh hell."

"What?"

"Take a look."

The three females looked on, paling on realizing what was happening.

"RoUNd foUR! SaFEty ofF!"

Both the combatants and observers quickly grew worried upon hearing this.

For safety concerns in the Armax Arena, the holographic enemies participants go up against have a pacifying level of threat per say. No one is supposed to die in these events as the enemies are merely designed to take out the players. The only extensive harm that can be done are some bruises and rarely some broken bones.

Nothing more.

Yet whatever is happening is making it occur.

Something that was different from what they usually saw, but the feeling was all too familiar.

"Oh shit!"

"Yeah." Garrus grimly said, raising his sniper rifle.

"Get ready." Shepard's tone was sharp and expression fierce.

"roUnd FOur! StARt!"

The dark cocoons disbursed, revealing the new enemies being present instead of the ones Shepard had planned for her squad.

Each and every one of them appeared relatively similar in design of the cubical forms with circuit-like surfaces. The box-like enemies mainly had a few differences between the bunch being the color scheme varying from bright to dark colors. The other pertained to that while the land enemies all had spider legs, the airborne ones had little wings flapping about.

"Oh these Heartless don't seem too bad."

Just after this came out of Garrus' mouth, more dark pools formed on the floor with dark spheres opening up around the area. Coming out of them were a wide array of Heartless that joined the Box-Bugs and Flappy Bugs.

Several had worn what appeared to be pointy wizard hats and even staffs while literal shields with growling faces materialized and dropped down with their wielders appearing behind them.

On top of that, Surveillance Robots had also appeared and with them were several pallet variations with several distinctly larger versions of their smaller counterparts.

The three girls gave the Turian blank looks with him feeling his mandibles twitch at having his words being thrown in his face in such a manner.

"Yeah… I know, I should've kept my mouth shut."

Up with the observers, many were murmuring in fear and shock.

What in the Citadel's name was going on right now?

"What the hell are those things?" Anderson asked in grave concern, having already seen the reaction of Shepard and her squadmates that were both in the arena and observing with him.

"Bad news." Kaidan said, face conveying trepidation and concern.

"We gotta get down there!" Wrex declared.

In an instant, Roxas was on his feet and rushed towards the downstairs area. The rest of the Normandy team followed suit but were not as quick as the sandy blonde Keybearer. The only one who was quick enough was Stitch, due to his unique physiology.

By the time Roxas made it downstairs, he had somehow managed to throw on his black coat and had quickly formed a Dark Corridor before him and rushed right through. And in his haste, he didn't realize Stitch followed right in just before the Corridor closed itself off.

When the others arrived downstairs, they were in a state of utter confusion.

"Where did Roxas and Stitch go?"

Back in the arena, the squad had been separated into either a pair or soloing the Heartless.

Shepard had run forward, Biotics surrounding her as she charged and hit one of the Danger bugs with her shoulder. The blocky Heartless stumbled back into a cluster of others with Shepard rapidly unloading her rifles upon them to kill them off.

Behind her, Garrus and Liara were conducting a defensive strategy against the Defenders and Wizards who were proving to be a greater set of adversaries than they had anticipated. The Defenders mix of physical force with its pinch of fire magic was complemented by the Wizards exclusive use of Magic entirely.

Ashley was also having a bit of a difficult time, having constantly moved from cover to cover as the Surveillance Robots, Guardians and Destroyers were chasing after her specifically.

"Fucking hell! Leave me alone God Dammit!" Ashley bellowed out in pure frustration.

Shepard was running towards her Gunnery Chief to assist, firing at the Heartless in hopes of gaining their attention, unaware of the aid she was about to receive.

From behind, a Dark Corridor quickly formed with Roxas soaring out with Keyblade in hand. Cleaving through the Heartless, he landed before his teammates, earning surprised looks from them all.

"What the-! Roxas? How the hell did you-"

"No time!"

In an instant, Roxas and the others heard the familiar cackle nearby. Looking over, they saw Stitch blasting through a number of Heartless left and right. That was prior to grasping onto a Surveillance Drone and hurling it around once it's laser blast went off, eradicating a number of its allies in one fall stroke before tossing it aside and blowing it up.

"Wait? How did he-"

"You wanna play twenty questions now or later?!" Garrus barked out, firing at several Flappy Bugs coming their way.

Roxas saw Garrus and Liara struggling with the Defenders and Wizards, vision momentarily changing into an environment where he was in a castle of contraptions and platforms.

As quickly as did he see the vision did it disappear, making him throw his Keyblade at a Wizard floating above Liara.

Rather than having the Keyblade be recalled to him, Roxas blurred and then appeared right above his Keyblade.

Grabbing it in the air, he thrusted downward with light appearing around him and forming into a Mach Cone as he slammed into a Defender and destroyed it.

However, just as one enemy was taken care of, another took its place with another Defender being nearby managing to land a solid hit on him.

"Roxas!" Liara cried out in concern, seeing the boy sail through the air.

Yet this was short lived, No. XIII finding himself instinctively recovering in the air.

While airborne, Roxas' vision momentarily shifted into another setting.

His(?) Keyblade was out and pointed to a horde of surrounding Heartless. At its tip, streams of light encompassed it and condensed into a ball. When it's wielder focused on the enemies, they seemed to 'lock on'. After that, the ball of light exploded, sending energy projectiles all around.

However, with that vision was one that was different and interlaced with the first one. This one was from a Keyblade clearly not his own but oh so familiar as well. In front of him were enemies he had never encountered before. From this new perspective, everything changed as his eyes rapidly moved around the area as if targeting the strange enemies.

When his vision shifted back, Roxas seemed to follow the action the vision gave him.

Aiming his Keyblade at the masses, his vision slowed down as nearly dozens upon dozens of Heartless seemed to be targeted. His Keyblade soon gathered motes of bright light from all around and appeared to be swallowed at his weapon's tip. Once his focus was completed, he fired off the ball of light as it shattered, soared and struck many Heartless from around the nearby area.

'Shotlock… Ragnarok.'

The words echoed in his head on what he just performed for the first time.

"That was quite interesting." Garrus muttered aloud. "I wonder if you took inspiration from my sniper rifle, Roxas."

Roxas frowned, thinking about this for a moment. "Don't think so."

"Really?"

The stressed out remark was quickly ignored as Roxas was on the move once more.

He ran forward, grinding his Keyblade against the ground with sparks flying. Drawing near a Defender, he swung upward, the force behind his attack stunning the Heartless.

Garrus's eyes sharpened, quickly raising his sniper rifle and firing at the Heartless' head.

The shot went clean through, dispersing the Defender.

Roxas looked back and found himself throwing a thumbs up at the Turian with Garrus being unable to repress the chuckle that came out.

In the meantime, Stitch was firing off with his small yellow blasters. The green explosive arsenal was proving effective against the Heartless as they packed quite the punch. He jumped about, using certain Heartless as small platforms to better move around the area and deal widespread damage to the Heartless.

Ashley was quick to fight alongside him, allowing herself to be used as a "landing pad" or "Launch pad" of sorts for Stitch to help him move about the area.

Roxas, having taken down several Cy, Metal and Blox bugs turned over to see the Commander struggling.

Recalling a spell he had witnessed during one of his dreams, Roxas thrusted his Keyblade forward pointing at the closest group of Heartless to Jane.

Shepard grunted, feeling overwhelmed by the excessive amount of Heartless that were attacking her Biotic Barrier. She knew she would need to get creative in order to beat back these annoying bastards.

As she was formulating a plan, she saw something quite… well, astonishing was as good of a word as she was able to think of.

A small series of clocks and roman numbers with unusual prisms appeared around several of the Heartless.

She must be getting tired as she must be seeing things. For the Heartless were no longer moving, as if someone pressed 'pause' on them.

Not wanting to look a gift horse in the mouth, Jane fired upon the halted Heartless before driving her Omni-blade into a Surveillance Drone and delivering a biotic warp onto a Defender. With the shield-wielder floating and defenseless, she tossed a few grenades on it, which exploded and disbursed the dark being.

Whirling about to face several more Surveillance Robots, she paused when she heard Roxas shout.

"Gravity!"

Suddenly, a large purplish black dome of some kind appeared over the Heartless, expanding, encompassing and descending upon them.

To any other observer witnessing this, they would've thought Roxas suddenly performing some sort of biotic move, a powerful one at that.

However, this was quickly thrown by the wayside when the Heartless quite literally came crashing down to the ground… the point where they were flattened into what could be described as 2D images of themselves… before snapping back to normal with several being destroyed.

…

"So… what the hell were those supposed to be?" Shepard asked after a few moments of silence.

"Gravity and Stop magic." Roxas quickly explained.

"Stop magic? You mean like time?"

"Yeah… er, sort of. I can pause enemies for a short period."

"... I can't think of a proper response to that." Shepard openly admitted, feeling her brain short circuit before rewiring itself since there were still Heartless to defeat.

Before he could head off, Roxas soon felt his magic reserves greatly decrease after using his new spells of Gravity and Stop so excessively in such a short amount of time.

He was breathing heavily slightly having used such magic.

Before he had the attempt to pull out some Ethers, he felt something slimy hitting his head. He then felt a jolt on his shoulder, the Normandy's newest crewmate landing on his shoulder moments prior.

"Sti-?"

The little blue aliens gave the blond a large lick that slobbered his face

"Stitch! Now's not the time for-"

He halted in mid-sentence, feeling the mucus evaporate off of him with his magic reserves suddenly returning in full force.

"How in the-"

Stitch soon leapt off him, using the Nobody as a springboard to gain significant height before diving down and delivering a volley of spiraling exploding projectiles from his blasters.

Momentarily stunned by this revelation, Roxas found a small grin forming upon his lips at the fact that Stitch had such a power.

In a manner of seconds, the arena became a storm in several manners. From the storm of ammunition striking the Heartless left and right to the literal onslaught of Thundaga spells being casted left and right that temporarily dampened out any other sounds.

Eventually, with their combined efforts, the arena was cleared of all the Heartless.

"Is that the last of them?" Ash asked, looking around cautiously.

The team checked their surroundings when Roxas took note of the black wisps that were permeating the air. The leftover residue from the slain Heartless.

The hairs on the back of his neck stood with Roxas returning to his battle stance.

"This isn't over." Roxas yelled aloud.

Rather than disputing him, the team had pointed their weapons in the direction that Roxas was facing.

Just in time to as the dark wisps that were floating about suddenly converged together into a large dark blob that morphed into a particularly large Heartless.

This one had a spherical body with a curved head and gear piece for a 'crown'. As a matter of fact, gears appeared to be the primary theme of this Heartless as it had Gears for hands, shoulder pads and a rotating Gear underneath its main body with a steady stream of fire to keep it "afloat".

The Normandy crew save for Roxas and Stitch, momentarily faltered.

"Oh…" Garrus muttered, eyes widening.

"That's… a lot bigger than the last one on Therum." Jane stated.

"Bigger?!" Ashley exclaimed.

"Get ready." Roxas called out, making them refocus just as the Heartless smashed its gear hands on the ground as if calling out for a challenge.

When they got a proper look at this Heartless, it looked like a mixture of Gears and the mythical creatures known as Golems.

Gear Golem was a rather apt name for this specific Heartless.

The Gear Golem quickly tossed its hands up, multiple spinning gears coming out of its hands.

The center of the gears glowed red and a moment later, fired off red beams with the team having to scatter.

"Oh… Oh! Of course this thing can do that." Shepard snarked. "Why wouldn't it? It's not like it's supposed to make sense or anything."

"It's annoying and insane how much what you just said makes more sense to me than what we're fighting." Garrus drawled, now switching to use his enhanced weapon mode exclusively.

The Gear Golem went on the offensive, floating towards them with its laser gears flying all around it.

Roxas and Stitch were the only two out of the six of the team that was unperturbed by the size of the Heartless, already running straight at it.

"Roxas, wait!" Jane called out to him which was ignored as he tossed Stitch forward with him jumping after a moment later.

The team could only watch as Roxas destroyed one of the floating gears with Stitch doing the same with the Gear Golem flying up into the air to dodge the oncoming attack from the Keybearer.

"Come on." Jane said, moving to join the two that were fighting. "We can't let them take that Heartless on their own."

Garrus quickly turned the knob back on his sniper rifle to activate its special features. Ashley was already equipping an extra dosage of flame rounds onto her other firearms. And Liara's biotics flared as she channeled power into her limbs.

Roxas was whacking away at the gears while trying to get to the main Gear Golem that had many other gear floating around it in a defensive shield.

Suddenly, the smaller gears cleared out of the way with the Golem slamming its hands down on the ground, gear hands rotating rapidly.

It then burst forward, with the entire group hastily getting out of the way.

Ashley and Garrus were unfortunately caught up in a passing shockwave, the two sent crashing down to the ground.

"Ash! Garrus!" Jane yelled out, screeching to a halt in her sprint and turning to sprint towards them.

However, it was for naught as the Gear Golem loomed over her downed comrades with its arms raised.

Both looked up in terror at the sight of the giant enemy bearing down upon them.

It swung down both arms with a large metal clang being heard echoing across the arena.

Garrus and Ashley, who were shielding themselves in a futile manner, realized that they hadn't been crushed by the Golem.

Peeking their eyes open, the duo were greeted to the astonishing sight of Roxas and Stitch holding back the two gear hands with the former glowing his ethereal white aura and the latter utilizing his own brute strength.

Though it was clear to see that they were struggling and wouldn't be able to hold the arms back any longer.

Much as they would love to exclaim their awe of yet another insane feat pulled off by Roxas, Garrus and Ashley knew they needed to move.

Scrambling to their feet, they cleared their two saviors giving Roxas the chance to move out of the way in a burst of speed.

Stitch on the other hand allowed for the giant hand to crush him.

"STITCH!" Roxas yelled out in shock and terror at the sight of his friend getting crushed.

The rest were equally as horrified with them being completely frozen for the briefest of moments until Jane snarled loudly and began blasting away at the Heartless when it's arm shifted upwards and stumbled back slightly.

From the crater that was formed by its gear hand, Stitch crawled out seemingly completely unharmed and unfazed save for his ruffled fur.

Stitch growled aloud, baring his fangs at the Heartless with all four of his arms being displayed.

"Stitch." Roxas said in relief. "Are you alright?"

Stitch looked at him and then smiled. "Cute and fluffy."

Ashley's brow twitched. "What the hell is that supposed to-"

"Not the time for that." Jane exclaimed, firing at the Heartless.

The Gear Golem, having recovered from its stumble, was now back on the offensive unleashing yet another wave of gears from its hands.

"We need to find a way to disable its arms from sending out more of those Gears." Jane said aloud, halting Liara in her tracks.

"Of course!" The Asari declared, switching to her gun's newest mode.

Turning it up to its highest level, Liara unloaded a volley of shots that struck the left arm of the Gear Golem, slowly trailing up until some began hitting its chest.

The Gear Golem began to stagger and jolt about with the shots beginning to connect with one another, paralyzing its movement.

Roxas took the chance Liara had made, swinging down hard at the head of the Heartless. At the last second, due to its body being immobilized by Liara's shots, it had inadvertently jolted out of the way in time to avoid Roxas' oncoming attack.

However, the Keyblade still struck its target, a piece of its circular chest being smashed off.

The Golem staggered back with the damage clearly affecting it.

"We've got an opening!" Jane shouted, raising her rifle. "Fire! Fire!"

The five teammates with guns began firing away with everything they had, the Gear Golem taking the attack and openly trembling at the damage.

This would only last so long until it swept both arms and smashed them down on the ground to create large shockwaves that sent the team flying back.

"Spirits sake." Garrus groused out. "This is becoming damn near unbearable."

"Liara's weapon seemed to work." Ashley pointed out.

"Guess we'll try that out for now."

The team sprang into action once more, the gunners running around the Heartless, firing at it from all sides to inflict as much damage upon the large adversary as they can.

All the while, the smaller gears moved about the arena, firing upon the squad who realized they needed to multitask in shooting and dodging.

Ducking into cover, Garrus used his sniper rifle's special function to shoot down several gears at once from out of the sky. Liara and Shepard would occasionally throw up some biotic barriers to help provide additional cover for everyone else. Ashley kept peppering the exposed area of its center body with her inferno shots though there was a constant stream of darkness emanating from the opening. As if it was shielding the body. And as for Roxas and Stitch, they occasionally leaped into the air to smack the gears away.

Eventually, the Gear Golem slammed one of its arms onto the damaged arena, Roxas leaped and landed onto its mechanical limb. He soon ran up its length and came up to the Heartless' upper body. Once there, he casted a volley of Thundaras and Blizzaras at the exposed areas near the neck.

The attacks seem to be working as the Heartless thrashed about.

In this act, Roxas was thrown off before he was smacked into the air by the Golem's arms. Yet Roxas didn't falter as he recovered quickly and concocted an idea right away.

To add more damage onto the Heartless, Roxas channeled a lot of magic into his Keyblade, coating it with a dark energy. Plummeting down, a large gravity sphere was formed at its tip. Once striking the Gear Golem with the sphere, it pushed the giant Heartless down considerably as if it was truly being crushed; more so once hearing the loud sound of metal straining and groaning. It wasn't long before an explosion occurred, blasting the caster's adversary down to the arena floor.

Roughly landing back onto the ground, Roxas gritted his teeth as he felt his arms ache as his Keyblade dug deep into the arena floor.

'I think my arms are gonna be numb with that Gravity… Break(?) I pulled.'

Using up several Ethers and Potions to replenish his reserves and health, Roxas saw his comrades attacking the Gear Golem with whatever else they had on them.

Not wanting to be left out, Roxas rushed towards his Keyblade, grabbed it and pried it out before jumping in to strike the Heartless' battered form.

With his weapon glowing a bright blue light, Roxas started slashing and bashing against the large Heartless. Even teleporting as he spun and flipped all around the fallen form to be sure nearly every inch of surface was struck.

"This is it!"

His assault sped up a whole lot more once a bright aura encompassed his very being. Soon enough, he performed the Sonic Blade attack in rapid succession, resulting in it practically becoming a raid variant or more towards a rave.

The Gear Golem jolted violently, it's massive form moving back and forth in a wild fashion with its arms flailing.

It fell to the ground after Roxas' attack had ended, the Keybearer breathing slightly heavier now.

"You alright, Roxas?" Shepard asked, immediately by his side placing a steadying hand upon his shoulder.

"Just gotta catch my breath." Roxas exhaled, standing up straight before returning to his offensive stance.

The team looked forward as the Gear Golem's body groaned, shifting back up to hover in front of them…

Menacingly.

"Spirits sake, what more can we possibly do?!" Garrus bellowed out frustratedly.

"Goddess." Liara murmured, slightly backing away.

Stitch simply growled, undeterred by the enemies endurance.

"We gotta find a way to end this now." Shepard declared determinedly.

Biotics flaring, both the commander and asari had to move out of the way before pulling a Biotic Throw to push the Heartless back. In retaliation, the Gear Golem quickly swung it's arms down and performed an arena wide sweep. More areas in the battleground were broken up because of it, causing much of the team to get harmed in the process.

Everyone flailed as they were sent flying into the air with Garrus, Liara and Ashley having no means to properly recover because of it. The three crashed onto the ground, groaning from utter pain from the attack.

Stitch was faring much better due to his unique physiology, landing on a broken piece of rubble. From this bit of recovery, he used some Potions to heal up before rushing over towards his fallen comrades to help speed up their healing process.

As for Roxas and Shepard, with their past training and unique abilities, they recovered in their own respective manners. They administered Potions and Medi-gel to regain their lost health.

Before either of the two could proceed to help their fellow comrades, the Gear Golem slammed their arms down to their respective positions. The pair did their best to dodge the powered blows, more so with Shepard using her Biotics to give herself a boost.

As the two fighters drew near each other… something… truly strange and astonishing happened.

There was an unusual swelling of what Shepard could only describe as literal power as her Biotics began to burst from her body.

Nearby, Roxas' Light encompassed his entire form.

"SHEPARD!" Roxas yelled out, the two jumping back to back with their auras of Light and Biotics fusing together, unleashing a large shockwave a moment later which greatly damaged the Gear Golem.

Shepard had no idea as to what was happening right now but she simply allowed her body to completely control her actions, following Roxas' lead entirely.

Roxas dashed in the air holding out his Keyblade horizontally.

Shepard's Biotics flared up more, the bluish-purple wisps drifting off her body and entering her gun. A sphere of energized Biotics formed at the tip of her weapon and fired a moment later.

Roxas began moving, going into a spin with the tip of his Keyblade catching the Biotic sphere and flinging it at the Gear Golem.

The Biotic Sphere struck it, a large shockwave appearing on the area it hit, staggering the Heartless.

The duo two pronged attack didn't let up with Shepard then proceeding to somehow slam her gun into the ground.

In front of Roxas, a half dozen smaller Biotic spheres appeared before him.

Instantly, Roxas hit all six at once having the orbs pelt the Gear Golem.

Once more, Shepard conjured another large Biotic sphere for Roxas to use which he caught and tossed.

The two continued this pattern of dual attacking with the Heartless' exterior beginning to show clear signs of cracks upon the hard shell.

A flash of light burst off from Shepard and Roxas, the two going in for their final attack.

Raising his Keyblade over his head, Roxas channeled his light at the tip with Shepard doing the same for enhanced Biotics.

After accumulating the right amount of energy, the duo unleashed their attack with the two spheres becoming beams, fusing together.

Though they were combined into one, the Light and Biotics were visibly distinct from one another as the two began spinning together into a spiraling sphere that gained speed until at last…

The beam spear of Light and Biotics speared right through the chest of the Gear Golem, the Heartless recoiling back until it froze in the air.

It began trembling violently, pieces of gears and pebbles falling from its body when the body began disintegrating. Moments later, a large glowing Heart flew out from where the center was which disappeared a moment later.

The entire arena was silent, nobody daring to make a sound or move.

All except for Roxas who exhaled, calling the Keyblade back.

Seconds later, the automated female VI voice spoke up for everyone to hear. "Safety on. Matches over."

After that, the victory fanfare was quickly played in the arena, making everyone in there finally relax.

A moment later, the team slumped over, feeling the effects of the battle begin to creep in.

"I'm taking a nap after all that." Garrus stated.

"Shooting anyone else who interrupts mine." Came Ashley's response.

"I believe I would like to extend our time to relax here." Liara said.

Stitch only pattered over to Roxas, climbing up his body and onto his shoulder to flop dramatically onto his head.

Roxas chuckled slightly.

Gazing where the Heartless was defeated, No. XIII saw a familiar looking Gummi Block laying on top of the rubble. He soon went off to retrieve it as the others conversed.

"Before we do that…" Ash looked over to Jane. "So… Skipper. Anything you want to tell us?"

"I have just as much of an idea as you do, Gunnery Williams." Shepard retorted.

"So no clue then?"

"Exactly. Come on, guys. We should get outta here and get back to the Normandy." Shepard ordered/suggested.

The team compiled and made themselves out of the wrecked holographic arena.

When they made it back into the main lobby, Shepard and her squad were met with the rest of their team.

Kaidan, Wrex and Tali surrounded them with the latter of the trio fretting over them all.

"Keelah! Are you all alright?!" Tali suddenly said, hugging them in a dramatic manner.

"Glad to know you care so much." Garrus joked with a grunt at the strength in which he was hugged, the Quarian going over to Roxas next.

"You lot sure have quads on what you pulled there." Wrex chortled, smacking some of their backs. "A fight for the ages."

"I wouldn't put it that far, Wrex." Kaidan stated.

"Most people would say otherwise." A familiar voice sounded out. "Isn't that right, Jane?

Whipping her head over, the human Spectre saw Captain Anderson standing not far away with his arms crossed.

"Eh… hi, Anderson." Jane said meekly.

"If you and your team can come with me, I believe we need to talk."

"...About what?"

The look she received from the Captain was one similar to that of a daughter being caught doing something her father would disapprove of.

"These Heartless you and some of your squad just faced."

It was at this point that Shepard somewhat wished the Heartless killed her as she would rather face them now rather than her former commanding officer and foster father.

As the Normandy crew followed after Captain Anderson out of the establishment, some distance away, the ravenette who had joined the Normandy team in viewing the recent arena fight, pulled up her Omni-tool.

She could barely contain herself as she sent in the command and visual logs that she had recorded during the debacle that had occurred at the arena.

None of it made any sense to her.

But none of that mattered. What did was getting this to her boss immediately.

After some moments of tense silence, a connection was answered.

"Hello, Miranda. What can I do for you?" Came the slightly raspy voice of her employer.

"Illusive Man, I need to make a report."

The sound of a man taking a long swig of a cigar was heard on the other end briefly. "About what?"

"Something that just happened at the Armax Arsenal Arena." Miranda's voice was slightly jittery, something The Illusive Man picked up on.'

"And what pray tell happened?"

"Take a look for yourself."

The ravenette soon sent a copy of the recent stream.

Miranda could tell by the long period of silence on the other end meant the man was either drinking from his glass of scotch or dragging a smoke in order to collect himself while thinking of so many things.

"Interesting…" Said the Illusive Man as he watched the arena fight. "Very interesting…"

"Interesting? More like extraordinary."

The Illusive Man hmphed in amusement and agreement. On that, he could seldom deny such a statement. What he had just witnessed was unlike anything he had ever seen in his life.

"And what are those things Commander Shepard and the boy..."

"His name is Roxas."

"Thank you… Roxas fought?"

"I overheard the Normandy team identifying them as Heartless."

"Hmm… seems we finally got a name to these creatures."

Judging by the tone of the man's voice, Miranda can tell he seems to know of something.

"And how do you seem familiar with them?"

"There were reports of a small skirmish on the Citadel with this Roxas fellow and the rest of the Normandy ground team fighting against them. Many people were skeptical as no real footage was captured, only the aftermath." TIM grew silent as Miranda could hear the faint sound of the cigarette being dragged. "But now there is one, broadcasted even."

Miranda nodded and waited for the man to continue.

"And what of this other creature that was with them?"

"They said his name was Stitch, a genetically modified dog if you can believe that."

"Doubtful, especially with what I'm seeing right now. And those attacks Roxas used, amps, biotics?"

"I haven't the foggiest idea. They seem to derive from that odd skeleton-key looking weapon of his."

"Very unlike any weapon ever seen and created." TIM said. "Do you have any hypothesis as to what it is?"

"Apologies, Illusive Man, but no." Miranda admitted. "Whatever it was that I had just witnessed, nothing short of magic would be the most logical conclusion."

At first, TIM considered disregarding such a notion when he reviewed the visual recording once again. Everything that had transpired, everything that this Roxas boy had performed is not something one could just chalk up to genetic alterations of any kind.

This…

This was something else.

The Illusive Man hummed in agreement. "As long as we keep an open mind, unlike most people."

Miranda snorted, clearly knowing what he meant.

The Citadel Council have been dismissing the Reapers and remaining ignorant of the bigger picture. And she doesn't know what might occur in their thoughts on what happened in the Armax Arena earlier. Would probably state them being hologram malfunctions and glitches, results of someone tampering with the system.

Miranda could've chalked up the same idea if she didn't see the actual genuine, knowing reactions the Normandy team bore.

"Be sure to send more reports when possible Agent Lawson. I'll be sure to assign some agents to assist you on this new addition to the galactic board."

"Of course, sir." She said, ending the call.

-Scene Cut-

Within the darkened room of one of the basement floors of Castle Oblivion, the Cloaked Schemer resided as he was reading yet another research book while having tea on the side.

Zexion had rather enjoyed spending time to himself here in the castle.

His orders were simple and ones he enjoyed greatly.

Research, study and learn anything and everything he was able to about this strange place.

Peaceful and quiet, for the most part.

That was until the Dark Corridor appeared before him, fading away to reveal the Flurry of Dancing Flames.

"Axel." Zexion greeted cordially. "To what do I owe the pleasure once more? Is something amiss?"

Axel waved him off.

"Just checkin' up on ya." Axel replied, taking a seat on the adjacent couch with his form slumping into his chair. "Running and patrolling this castle is a pain."

Zexion arched a brow.

"Still patrolling the castle?"

"I got no choice." Axel threw his hands up in exasperation. "There's literally nothing to do here."

"Is that just your excuse of not being able to occupy yourself effectively in your own duties?" the silver haired Nobody questioned, flipping the page of his book.

"I'm not like you, in case you haven't noticed." Axel dryly stated. "In my past life, I could barely sit still at all. What makes you think me becoming a Nobody would be any different?"

"I figured you would be more subdued." Zexion responded pointedly.

Axel scoffed good naturedly. "Couldn't be even if I tried."

Zexion 'hmphed' in slight amusement, returning to his reading when he recalled something of importance.

"I had picked up on several scents in the upper levels of the castle earlier today." No. VI noted.

"Hmmm? Oh, yeah that was Xion and Demyx." Axel said offhandedly.

"Ah yes, Xion." Zexion nodded. "She has been coming here frequently."

"Yeah, she doesn't wanna eat ice cream alone." Axel remarked. "Sure makes Namine happy enough."

Zexion hummed in thought of the puppet and the unique Nobody that had apparently struck up a "friendship". How they both are spending time with each other quite often now with Axel always by their side.

"And you mentioned Demyx came here as well?"

"Yeah, wanted to get away from the castle apparently." Axel stated. "Larxene and Saix were grinding on him."

"Ah."

Not much needed to be said when dealing with the Savage Nymph of the Organization.

"And the other?"

"Hmmm?"

"There was one other scent I picked up on."

"Oh yeah, Saix too."

Zexion looked up from his book with interest.

"No. VII was here?"

"Yeah, orders from Xemnas." Axel said casually.

"And they are?"

"Finding a room in this castle." Axel said vaguely, noticing the subtle shift Zexion did in his seat. "You know about it, don't you?"

Rather than deny it, Zexion closed his book.

"I have spoken about this matter before." No. VI revealed. "Once with you, albeit briefly. And with Xigbar a bit more extensively before we established this Castle as our second base of operations. The Chambers of Waking and Repose. Two sides of the same coin that we have been meaning to investigate."

"Right… but how could you have one without the other." Axel said with No. VI nodding in agreement. "Think it's here?"

"Lord Xemnas believes so." Zexion said. "Who is to say it is not?"

Axel shrugged. "I dunno. Not as smart as you and Vexen."

"Not in the way we are no." Zexion shook his head.

"Appreciate the compliment." Axel said with a small smirk.

Silence befell the two, Zexion reopening his book whilst Axel inclined his head back and rested it against the support.

"Hey Zexion." Axel spoke up suddenly, noticing the tilt in the man's head to indicate he was listening. "What do you remember from before?"

Zexion paused, looking over to the redhead whose expression was unreadable.

"What now?"

"What do you remember from before?" Axel asked once more, tone gaining a slight edge.

"Before?"

"Come on Zexion, you're one of the smarter ones." Axel said in a deadpan.

Zexion didn't respond at first. He wasn't really sure how to.

What kind of question was that to just drop on someone so suddenly?

"What brought this about?" Zexion inquired, setting his book aside.

"Something that's been on my mind." Axel answered. "Actually… since I first woke up like this."

"Why?"

Axel tilted his head in a silent question of 'why what?'.

"Why ask this now? After so long?"

"Did you not just hear what I said?" Axel asked rhetorically. "This has been on mind since I first woke up like this."

Zexion was unsure of how to respond to this rather… intense question.

"What… led you to this question?" Zexion inquired after a few seconds of not responding.

"That's for me and my own reasoning." Axel said enigmatically. "But… depending on how you answer, I think I can provide you with my own."

Well that was an interesting proposition to say the least.

He leaned back into his seat, crossing his arms with a contemplative look to him.

"It was within the laboratory." Zexion said in a far off voice. "I was with Even and Braig. Something… or rather someone perhaps struck me from behind with Even suffering the same fate. Alarms were going off with Braig shouting to Lord Xemnas. Then… I awakened with the others and I got my new name."

"Nothing else?" Axel leaned forward.

"At the moment." Zexion said coolly. "I'd rather not speak of it."

Axel hummed, moving back into a more comfortable position.

"And you?" The Cloaked Schemer gazed at the Flurry of Dancing Flames intently. "What do you remember? Or has your memory failed you?"

"Hey." A small tick mark appeared on Axel's forehead when Zexion hit his pet peeve. "I'll have you know my memory is perfect."

"Is it? Losing your heart and becoming a Nobody would indeed leave many blanks in one's mind."

Axel crossed his arms with a frown.

"Did you not join us?" Zexion asked. "Because I am certain I recall two new members having joined under the previous master of Radiant Garden before we had gotten to where we are now."

No. VIII felt his lip and brow twitch.

"Well?"

Grumbling to himself, Axel relented.

"It was just as sudden with us as it was with you." Axel said, his face conveying conflict. "Isa and I… we became apprentices. Next thing we know, a few days later the Master apparently becomes insane. Our world was overrun by Heartless and next thing we knew, we woke up as Nobodies, found by Xemnas and given our names and numbers just like you."

At the mention of his former master, Zexion felt a momentary stir within him. Something he couldn't quite fathom as it was gone quickly as it came.

"And? What do you make of it?" Zexion asked.

Axel had his elbows now propped up against his knees with his hands interlaced.

"I don't know…" Axel admitted. "It all happened so suddenly, I never really thought about it properly."

Neither spoke for a few moments until…

"But… There is one thing that has always bugged me." Axel locked eyes with Zexion, having his full attention by this point. "Something I feel I may not be alone in feeling."

Zexion saw a glint in the redhead's eyes that slightly unsettled him.

"When everything went to hell in a handbasket, we were told that the Master, Ansem the Wise, went crazy and turned on us." Axel said slowly with Zexion freezing up. "The same Ansem the Wise that took me and Saix as apprentices after already having six others. When I heard that, I kept asking myself this one question for a number of days afterwards. Did he really go crazy? Or are we missing something?"

"He turned on us." Zexion's tone was harsh. "He got what he deserved in the end."

"Did he?" Axel questioned. "Did he really turn on us in the end?"

He didn't answer him, only glaring slightly at No. VIII.

Zexion was unsure of what brought about this line of questioning but he can comfortably (or uncomfortably really) say he wasn't really in the mood to answer such a question.

Seeing that the Cloaked Schemer would fail to answer, Axel stood from his chair and only gave Zexion a momentary look of indifference before disappearing in a Corridor of Darkness.

No. VI remained seated, in deep contemplation and… a "feeling" of rage.

His hands were clenched tightly as thousands of thoughts swirled within his mind.

Why? Why did he have to speak on such matters?

Snarling to himself, Zexion lashed out his hand, his cup of tea falling and crashing to the ground with its contents spreading on the floor.

He was breathing heavily, erratically even.

Without another word, he stormed out of his room with the doors nearly being thrown off their hinges.

AN

So, this one took a slight bit longer but J and i have been feeling the effects of our jobs and all.

STILL, I do say that this is one of our best chapters for this story thus far and the upcoming ones we have planned are gonna be just as good.

I guarantee it.

Lots of crazy things to come with many more pivotal moments that will alter the course of ME and KH as a whole overall.

It starts out small, as all things usually do.

But overtime, the greater changes at large will become more prominent and crazier.

Jebest4781: More of this will be prevalent very soon, we assure you with what we have concocted. Won't give out spoilers until they actually come up.

FMW: So stay tuned for more crazy madness. Also, either one or two more chapters left for the Axel pairing vote. So come on people, get your votes in before it's too late. Will Shepard win the "heart" of our favorite pyromaniac? Or will it be the cold and calculating Miranda Lawson that's trailing behind. Or, who knows, one of the other three come in for a surprise victory (Likely not gonna happen).

Other than that, until next time.

Rate Read and Review and as Always Have Nice Day.