(posted 5/30/13)

The distant days spent in that beautiful paradise are an illusion to me now.

How long have I been here, banished to the realm of nothingness?

It is only by relying upon my anger and hatred that I have been able to retain my sense of self here, where all existence is nullified.

My heart is being overcome with hatred toward my apprentices, possessed by the darkness, and with the anger I feel for stupidly allowing myself to be betrayed.

Is this darkness, eating away at my heart?

I cannot continue to idle away my time here.

What are Xehanort and the others attempting to do?

I must unravel the mystery of these Ansem Reports, intercept my apprentices, and defeat them.

That is my mission…the only way to repay the world for my sins.

Those beings who lack hearts—the Heartless—must be the key.

The darkness of the heart, made flesh. Cursed shadows who not only lack hearts, but multiply by seizing hearts from any and all living things.

Where have they come from, and where are they going?

Three elements combine to create life: a heart, a soul, and a body.

But what of the soul and body left behind when the heart is lost?

When the soul leaves the body, its vessel, life gives way to death, but what about when the heart leaves?

A being does not perish when its heart leaves its body. The heart alone disappears into the darkness.

There is little time.

If I remain in this realm much longer, I will certainly learn these answers the hard way.

My heart is already a captive of the darkness.

"Man," Riku said softly. "It looks like the chances of finding and getting help from this Ansem the Wise are getting slimmer and slimmer."

Everyone was quiet and pensive. Only part of the Restoration Committee was gathered there in Mickey's room at the Hollow Bastion Inn; everyone else was off at the restoration site. Aside from Mickey, Riku, Roxas, and Simba– who had by now ended up subconsciously grouping themselves together as a team unit– Leon and Yuffie were there to share the discoveries they had already made.

"It seems like he was theorizing about the possibility of Nobodies, even back then," Leon said. "I wonder if he did eventually become a Heartless. That would explain why he didn't come back when Hollow Bastion was restored. But so far, we haven't seen anyone that resembles him in Organization XIII, so there is still a chance that he was able to make it out of the darkness."

"The Ansem I remember was definitely strong enough. If anyone could sink that far into darkness and still make it out, he could," Mickey said. "But the connection he has with the Organization is becoming clearer."

He turned to Roxas, who stiffened unexpectedly. He looked warily at Mickey, as if afraid of what he might say to him.

"Roxas, you remembered that the Organization's leader is named Xemnas. We already established that he must be the Nobody of Ansem's imposter, and that the imposter and Ansem himself must have been deeply acquainted."

Roxas nodded wordlessly.

"Well, I believe now that this Xehanort mentioned in the report here," Mickey held it up, "was the imposter, and that he and his band of ex-apprentices became the nucleus of Organization XIII."

There was a contemplative pause all around, and then Riku nodded. "It would explain a lot. If Xemnas is the imposter's Nobody, and the imposter was Ansem's apprentice, it follows that the other apprentices would have become Nobodies too. That is, if the imposter was really Ansem's apprentice."

"The reports do not say that outright," Mickey admitted, shuffling the papers in his hand. "Report two, the first of the real Ansem's reports that we found, only says that the imposter was the first subject in Ansem's experiments. He coulda been a bystander who ended up simply wanting revenge on Ansem for experimenting on him. But I remembered somethin'," he looked up at everyone. "I met his apprentice Xehanort. It was a really short moment, but he came in one time when Ansem and I were talking together in his study. It's been bothering me this whole time that the imposter Ansem's Heartless and Nobody looked sorta familiar to me. Now I know why. They look just like Xehanort."

Yuffie raised her hand. "Um, so… long story short… Xehanort and the other apprentices did some crazy experiments without Ansem's permission and turned into Heartless and Nobodies and now they're Organization XIII? And we still don't know what happened to Ansem?"

"That seems about the size of it," Leon said. "Only they expanded beyond the original six that Report Two mentions to include more Nobodies."

"If he's vowed to defeat them…" Riku said slowly, "that could explain why he hasn't returned to Hollow Bastion, if he is still alive and managed to escape the darkness."

"Alive doesn't mean well," Leon said grimly. "Like King Mickey said before at our meeting in Disney Castle, there was a time when Ansem valued his home world over everything else. But from this report it seems he was growing more interested in his so-called 'atonement'– which sounds a lot like revenge."

Revenge. The word pinged something in Riku's memory. It nagged at him, but he pushed it back for a later time.

"How far have you made it into the castle?" he said instead. "Have there been any other leads?"

"We'll keep looking around there," Leon said. "This is the second report we've found in those ruins, and it only makes sense to search where the man lived and did most of his work."

"You all can take a break from that tomorrow," Mickey said with a large grin. "It's high time we go look around there ourselves. You have the reconstruction to get back to as well."

"We've started building Leon a house," Yuffie snickered mischievously. "And he refuses to say what he wants, so we're having fun with the construction."

Leon shot her a glare, but there was no mistaking the faint twitch at the corner of his mouth that could have been an amused smile.

There was a knock on the door and Aerith came in.

"Hello," she chirped. "A lot of the construction workers stayed late tonight, so we decided to pull together a big pot luck dinner for everyone outside. All of you are invited too. You'll get to see the newly constructed square!"

"It's finished?" Leon even shifted from his 'cool guy' position leaning on the wall in surprise.

"They were determined," Aerith said happily. "Come on, then! No one let Cid cook anything, so you don't have to worry, Riku," she added.

"Good," Riku grunted while Yuffie laughed openly at him. They all remembered what happened the last time.

Moths drifted lazy around the cheery round party lights that were strung up all around the square. It was vaguely reminiscent of the square in Traverse Town; with as-of-yet-unopened shops and restaurants lining it and trees neatly planted with cobblestones covering the whole thing. Yet it had a distinctively Hollow Bastion feel, too. The cobbles and walls around were gray, and a graceful fountain dominated the center of the square, glinting with clean water. The lights were strung from lanterns to trees to poles, giving the whole thing a festive air. Tables were set out and the square was full of Restoration Committee members and their families, eating, chatting, sitting down or drifting from circle to circle.

Everyone 'oohed' and 'aahed' when they saw it. Leon stood looking for a moment before a genuine smile broke out on his face and he walked forward into the crowd, his posture unburdened like someone coming home for the first time in years. People greeted him as he approached and clapped his shoulder and talked. Yuffie went bounding in with Aerith walking behind.

Riku was smiling, too. He was glad he had made it through enough to see this. His face was uncovered and he felt a little bit nervous, but it wasn't long before he went in too, with Mickey following. Roxas watched him with his arms crossed and a knowing sideways smile; but he glanced beside and saw Simba watching the scene with an unreadable flatness to his eyes.

Roxas uncrossed his arms and laid a hand on Simba's shoulder. "Are you alright?"

Simba looked at Roxas' hand and then slowly at his face. The tawny-red eyes, permanently lined, glinted with something that stirred in Roxas' memory; but he wasn't sure what.

"I'm fine," he said quietly.

"Well…" Roxas said falteringly– he really wasn't good at this– "if you ever want to talk, just know you can talk to me. I'm not really used to giving comfort or advice, but I can at least listen," He rubbed the back of his head. "I can understand if… if you think we ought to be going after Maleficent instead of wasting our time on Ansem the Wise."

Simba blinked at him, surprised.

"Don't worry," Roxas added. He frowned thoughtfully to himself. "I think after tomorrow everyone else will be giving up on finding him, too."

He nodded once at Simba and walked into the square. Simba stared after him.

He wished the blond hadn't said anything. Roxas didn't realize that the least helpful thing he could do was to be nice to him.

"So, Roxas, tell us about your escapades in Twilight Town," Yuffie said, sounding gleeful for some reason (it must have been the pile of food in front of her she was eyeing). A large group of them were sitting at one of the tables. Yuffie was across the table from him and Riku and Mickey were on his left, Leon on his right. Roxas noticed that he hadn't seen Simba since coming in, but he avoided calling attention to it.

Roxas shrugged. "I think you all have a better sense of it than I do. Riku says someone told Maleficent how to run DiZ's system and use it to capture me. I never saw her. She did send some Heartless after me, though."

Yuffie swallowed the huge bite of fried chicken she had just torn off. "Why does she wanna come after you? I mean, I get the whole world-destroying thing… that's always been her favorite hobby… but why come after you too?"

"It's not me," Roxas said grumpily, but with no real vehemence. "She knows I'm Sora's Nobody. She wants to either use me to get to Sora, or to stick it to the Organization, or both."

"Wish Maleficent and the Organization would just take each other out." Riku said. "Problem solved."

"What has the Organization even done?" Roxas wondered aloud. "I mean, aside from kidnapping Sora, obviously. Does no one know what their goal actually is?"

"You're asking us, XIII?" Riku answered dubiously.

"If you don't realize by now that I've lost my memory, then I don't know what to tell you," Roxas said.

"He's got you there, Riku," Leon quirked a smile.

"Who knew Nobodies could make jokes?" Yuffie laughed.

"Yeah, but they aren't very good at them," Riku said.

"I like you," Yuffie decided, pointing at Roxas, who blinked. "Since you don't really have a home anymore, as far as I'm concerned, you're a citizen of Hollow Bastion. You have the card after all," she said as if that explained everything.

"Well, you were born here," Riku put in. "Sort of. At least, you were caused to be born here. I was there. Sort of."

Yuffie wrinkled her nose. "Ew. Can we not talk about morbid things?"

Everyone else was stunned momentarily that Riku had actually referenced that. A month ago, that probably still plagued his nightmares, and now he was casually mentioning it in Hollow Bastion and in the presence of Roxas. Times had really changed.

"So Roxas," Riku turned to him conversationally, taking the awkwardness in stride. "Are you really able to use the dark paths now?"

"Pretty much," Roxas said, bumping a fist on his chest. "Except… I can't always get them to form on the ground in my destination, so I end up falling from the air."

"You probably need to focus on your destination more; visualize it when you're about to step out," Riku said. "How did you do it? Since you can't do it by reaching out to the darkness with the darkness in your heart like we do."

Roxas tilted his head, thinking deeply.

"Well…" he said slowly. "I sensed the darkness, like you said. The first time, when I went from the ship to the fake Twilight Town, it was like I found it and then ripped into it, whether it wanted me or not. That time, the darkness felt chaotic, like all the times you guys have pulled me through it. But when I was in Twilight Town and Maleficent almost captured me…" he glanced down at the table, trying to remember clearly. "Someone pulled me into the darkness, and it was… different."

"Someone did? Maleficent?" Mickey said, jumping into the conversation for the first time.

Roxas shook his head. "I doubt it. First I was sinking into a pool of darkness that I know had to be her work. It was just as wild and destructive as what had been hanging over the simulated Twilight Town. But when they grabbed me, whoever it was pulled me into a really calm darkness. It was more pure, or something; I don't know. But I didn't have to struggle with it. I just focused my mind back to Twilight Town and went there easily after taking a step. I tried to get back in there and use it a couple of times before I met up with you guys. I can get in there by sort of… asking it. Willing it. With my mind," he added. "Riku guessed it might be similar to how I use the Keyblade and that's what I came up with after thinking about it. It's the same."

"Of course," Riku said in comprehension.

"But you don't know who it was that took you to the calm darkness?" Mickey asked.

"It would have had to have been a Nobody, don't you think?" Leon said. "That is, assuming you were in a space only Nobodies can reach."

"I…" Roxas stammered and held up his hands defensively because everyone was staring at him. "I really don't know who it was!" he dropped his hands. "I thought at first it might be Axel. He's followed me and the past, and… he tried to break me out of Twilight Town the first time." He cast his eyes down. "To be honest, weird things like that have been happening to me all along. This is just the most recent."

"What weird things?" Riku said warily.

Roxas did not like the tilt the conversation was going in. He wasn't prepared to share this kind of thing without warning.

"Well– well– you know, with my memories being scrambled up and all, I haven't always been entirely sure what is real and what isn't, and what is just my imagination and who I can trust, and all of that," he rambled.

"Roxas?" Mickey said in concern. He was surprised that the boy was getting so flustered and that made him curious as to what he was dancing around. "I told you when we first met that it was understandable if you didn't trust us. Are you saying that someone has been making contact with you like this before now?"

Roxas nodded. "But… I'm not sure it wasn't my imagination, or some kind of trick, or the Organization making Naminé mess with my mind. The first time it happened, I was still being kept in the simulation by DiZ, and I didn't know much of anything. A sketchbook of Naminé's appeared on my desk while I was sleeping. Then, after the meeting where you gave me the old Ansem reports, an extra page ended up in there that I hadn't seen before. I felt like someone was watching me when we fought in Disney Castle. And another time I just wanted my bag, and next thing I knew, it was beside me. I've never seen anything, or heard anything, or felt anything up until now to explain it. But I definitely felt someone pulling me this time. Whether my senses are mistaken or not, that's what I felt."

Tell them about Sora, he urged himself, but the mere thought made his throat close. It wasn't like Sora had anything to do with what they were talking about now. He knew Sora could not have done those things.

"It wouldn't surprise me if the Organization was watching you," Riku said after everyone was quiet for what felt like a long time. "But I don't understand how they could be sneaking around without anyone else noticing."

"Cid can upgrade the security grid here to be able to detect them, now that he has DiZ's software," Leon said. "We should at least be able to keep them out of here by adding them to the attack parameters along with the Heartless. At the very least, if it doesn't do much to hurt them, it'll keep them from hiding."

"Good idea, Leon," Mickey said. "We'll also implement the system at Disney Castle, since the Cornerstone of Light probably does not react to Nobodies."

"All of that is good and everything, but…" Roxas started, "I'm telling you, I don't know if these incidents are even real or not."

"We should guard as much as possible against the Organization anyway," Riku shrugged.

"I'm sorry for hiding things from you all," Roxas cast his eyes down. "To be honest… I still haven't told you about everything. But I hope you can believe when I say I really don't want anything bad to happen to this group. And also," he turned to look Mickey in the eye, "No matter what they try or what they say or what memories come back to me, I won't betray you to the Organization. Whoever I was in the past, I still chose to leave them of my own accord. That was my will in the past; it still means something to me."

"Have you had any new memories recently?" Mickey asked gently.

"No," Roxas said, surprised at the realization. "Actually… I haven't remembered anything new in a while. It was almost a constant before." He frowned. What changed? "I haven't had a flashback since…"

Since Sora woke up, he realized.

"Since I got trapped in the Twilight Town simulation again," he said.

"That was only a few days ago," Mickey said. "But I think they were bound to slow down after a while."

Riku stood up suddenly, making everyone turn their gaze to him.

"Look, stop worrying," he said. "None of us here got off on exactly the right foot. Even His Majesty felt guilty for accepting DiZ's plan without bothering to meet you, after we found ourselves stuck with you."

"It's true," Mickey said sheepishly.

"Anyway, how about we have a little match?" Riku asked Roxas. "It'll take your mind off things."

"Riku!" Yuffie slammed her hand down on the table while Roxas was caught off guard. "If you mean to mess up the new square we just finished…"

"I didn't mean fighting. Not right this moment, anyway," Riku said with a sinister smile that fit perfectly on his villainous face. "You're familiar with that game, right?" he pointed toward a corner where some kids were gathered. They had soft foam bats similar to the ones Twilight Town used in their Struggle tournaments. They were hitting light rubber balls into the air with the bats and trying to keep them up in the air for as long as possible.

"There would be no point fighting with you if you couldn't keep up with me in that," he said. "Either way, we should start training. I just want to see where you stand, since I haven't actually seen you fight much."

"I used… to hate that game…"

It stirred up a little bit of attention when one muscle-ridden grown man and two teenagers (Yuffie had joined them) stepped into the game circle and started playing alongside the kids. Their version was slightly more extreme, though. Riku could hit the ball so high that it disappeared in the backdrop of the night sky, and could jump much higher than any normal person to meet it as it fell, so that it seemed the ball wasn't in danger of dropping below the height of the lamp posts, much less hitting the ground. Yuffie moved so fast that she would be on the ground, seem to flicker and disappear, then reappear where the ball was before batting it with an enthusiastic shout.

Roxas wasn't as fast as Yuffie or as powerful as Riku, but he was satisfied to see that he had improved from his Twilight Town days. He, too, could jump higher and hit harder than any of the ordinary citizens would have been able to. His aim and stamina had improved too, and he kept going even after Yuffie stopped, huffing for breath.

The children had cleared out and a lazy circle of curious onlookers had gathered, rooting Roxas and Riku on as they leapt, dived, and sprinted.

"Not bad, Roxas!" Riku shouted from somewhere above him as Roxas frantically hit the ball that had reached dangerously close to the ground. Riku landed and said, "Be careful not to hit it too far the side so you don't have to run so much."

"I know, I'm just getting tired," Roxas complained, following the ball rather than looking at Riku. He aimed the next strike straight up and it went well, though not as high as when he first started. Accuracy was more important than power, though. He moved the bat to his left hand to give his burning right arm a break. He had to admit, this wasn't a bad training exercise for stamina and accuracy, even though he was starting to get a crick in his neck from looking up so much.

"They've been at it for 45 minutes without stopping now," Aerith commented from outside the circle.

"I'm wiped," Yuffie said beside her, drinking a bottle of water. "I should have paced myself more, then I could have went on for longer. It was fun though! I'd love to see Cloud do this."

"Me too, but I doubt that would happen," Aerith laughed. "Maybe, if they goaded him into it enough."

"Maybe you too next time, Leon?" Yuffie said, tilting her head toward Leon, who was standing beside them.

"Hmph," was all he said.

"Hey you guys!" Aerith called, cupping her mouth with her hands. "Don't you think it's time to give the kids their game back? It's getting late!"

Roxas landed and fell back on his behind, panting. He flopped back and let the bat fall out of his hand. Riku landed and remained standing, but he looked rather slouched and was breathing heavily.

"I think you would have won," Roxas said, "but I did keep up, like you said."

"I should hope so," Riku walked up to him and pulled him up. "It would just be embarrassing for me if you couldn't, since you've beaten me in a real fight before."

"The realest of fights," Roxas agreed as they walked over and accepted the water Leon gave them.

"We have a training hall here if you guys want to use it sometime," Leon said. "It's really basic right now, but eventually we'll have holograms and battle simulations and things like that. Cid has a lot of plans for it."

"Awesome," Roxas said.

"We should make sure you can use the dark paths right each time before everything else, I suppose," Riku said. "Then try to recover all the skills you lost."

Roxas nodded. "I can use Fire magic now, at least I think. I only tried it once, in Twilight Town when I was escaping Maleficent's Heartless hoard. I think if I work at it, I can get back everything I lost."

"You started using the bat with your left hand," Riku pointed at Roxas' left side. "So you are just naturally ambidextrous? Or is it just with wielding weapons?"

"I didn't really think about it," Roxas said thoughtfully, looking at his left palm as he flexed his hand. "I just did it. I can't do everything with my left hand."

"You need to get your dual-wielding back," Riku said. "It's a huge part of your style. If it's starting to feel natural to use either hand, it could be a sign. We can train with bamboo swords in the training hall and try it out."

Roxas nodded determinedly with a sideways smile.

"Hey fellas, are you coming back to the inn now? If so, we can go together," Mickey came up to them. "I think they're about to wrap this up. Has anybody seen Simba? I thought he came here, but I haven't seen him since the start."

"He's probably already back there," Roxas said. "I think he was still worn out from Twilight Town."

"Oh," Mickey said worriedly. "He should have said something."

"If he wants space, we should give it to him," Riku said. "He's still conflicted about the disappearance of his world. Most of us know that feeling."

Roxas and the Hollow Bastion gang all agreed.

"He probably could use a task to feel like he's doing something to help his world," Aerith said. "Feeling helpless about something you can't control is terrible. We should definitely include him whenever we get together to figure out what to do about Maleficent."

"He's next door to me," Roxas said. "I'll check up on him when we get back."

Roxas apprehensively knocked on Simba's door. He heard a very distant 'come in' before going in.

The room was unlit, but not entirely dark because the patio door was open and the moon was shining brightly down onto the small porch. The door's wispy white curtain floated in and out of the door lazily in the night wind. Simba was sitting on a chair with his back to the door. He was leaning forward slightly and sitting with both of his bare feet in the chair in a crouched cat-like position.

Roxas walked through the dark room carefully and sat down in the empty chair beside him on the porch.

"Why are all your lights off?" he asked. "Did you try to go to sleep?"

"I've just been sitting here outside looking at the stars," Simba said. "Besides, I can see fine in the dark."

"They missed you at the dinner thing."

"Oh. I hope they didn't think I was trying to avoid them," Simba looked at Roxas. "I'm happy for them, really. From my travels with Sora, I remember what this world used to look like before the worlds were restored. It was just like the name. Hollow. But I didn't feel like I had the energy to celebrate tonight."

"What happened at Twilight Town?" Roxas said hesitantly. "Riku and Mickey said you got separated from them and attacked by Hades. I mean, that is pretty serious."

For some reason, Simba glanced from Roxas into the room and then back again. "It wasn't a physical attack. Hades likes to toy with his victims. He thought it would be a good time to tell me they were the ones making the worlds disappear. And that it was my fault my world disappeared."

"What!" Roxas said scornfully. "Come on, you can't believe that one, right? If they are the ones that did it, then it's their fault."

Simba's mouth tightened into a hard line. They stared at each other for a bit and Roxas was starting to realize– with incredulity– that he had hit the nail on the head. Simba did believe it. It wasn't just simple survivor's guilt. For whatever reason, he really, legitimately believed that it was his fault.

"I can't explain it," Simba said finally. "Hades is very persuasive. But…" here he lowered his voice so low that Roxas barely caught the words even though he was right next to him, "I'm not so beaten that I won't keep trying to think of how I can escape from this mess."

He winced suddenly and put his hand over his face with a small cry. His shoulders shook as if with a great internal struggle.

Thinking that he had suddenly been overcome with emotion (how was a Nobody to say?) Roxas jumped up and put a comforting hand on his shoulder. "Look, we aren't going to abandon you in this. So if you want to fix it… though I still think you blame yourself too much… you won't be alone."

"Sorry, I'm really tired now," Simba pushed Roxas' hand away and stood up, motioning at the door. "I'm going ahead to bed, so I'll see you tomorrow, Roxas."

"Oh… ok," Roxas said awkwardly. "Well… I'll see you, then."

He glanced back before he went into the hall to see Simba shutting the patio door quietly. He spotted the small ornate mirror laying on the vanity, but he did not think much of it.

When Naminé returned, she found that Sora was already fast asleep again. But Jiminy came out and pleaded that he needed to talk to her right away before ushering her to the bathroom.

She had assured him that Sora would still be sleeping more deeply than usual for a while, and he had been a formidable sleeper to begin with. Nevertheless, Jiminy had insisted on leaving the room.

"Did something happen while I was gone, Jiminy?" she said, concerned, because he seemed very agitated.

"Nothing particularly." He shook his head. "I just," he cleared his throat, "I just wanted to ask. How sure are you that your plan to keep Sora's memories safe will work? Are you really sure? Really really really sure?"

"I am very sure," Naminé said, holding him in her palms at eye level. "I am leaving the chain completely intact except for the very last link. Everything should follow if that one link is restored."

"Okay, that does seem pretty solid," Jiminy admitted. "But still… why do we two have to lie to Sora?"

"What happened, Jiminy?" Naminé asked again, brow furrowed.

Jiminy sighed and sat down on her hands. "Well… nothing really bad. That guy named Xigbar talked to Sora, and he explained what Nobodies were, and about the Castle Oblivion incident you told me about. But that's partly what worries me. Even I couldn't tell when he was lying and when he wasn't, and I've heard your version of the story. I mean, I know something isn't right about these guys. They kidnapped Sora and you, and they refuse to let you restore his memory. But those are exactly the things we can't tell Sora about. I'm not saying I don't believe in you. I just can't stomach going along with their story to Sora's face when he asks me. It goes against everything I stand for."

"I'm really sorry," Naminé said miserably. "But if he knew, there's nothing we could do to convince him to go along with it. He would try to fight, and he is too weak right now. And we are too weak to help him. If he tried to fight or escape and failed, the Organization would make me cover up his real memories with fake ones like the rebels did. If that happens, his memory could be damaged, and it would take much longer to fix even if we saved him in the end. So you see, no matter how much it hurts, we have to lie to him. There is no amount of damage they can do now that would not be at least less than it could be. That is why," Naminé tilted her head, trying to catch Jiminy's eye. "You do understand that, right, Jiminy? It is extremely important."

"Alright," Jiminy said with great difficulty, "So then, why did you decide to make Kairi the last link in the chain? I agree it makes a very strong one, but if he has to see her in order to pull it off… how can you guarantee that he will see her? You would have to be sure the Organization would send him to their island. That is not certain at all, is it? Wouldn't it be better to pick someone that he is more likely to see in other worlds, like King Mickey or Riku?"

"I did think about that," Naminé said. "Unfortunately, Riku won't work. It is based on recognizing someone by sight, and Riku no longer looks like his old self. And he currently looks too much like Xemnas for me to use him as he currently is. As for Mickey," she tilted her head curiously, "I didn't think of him. Sora only has one memory of him, and I don't know where he is now. Riku would never tell me."

"Well then… one of Sora's Hollow Bastion friends?" Jiminy suggested slowly, thinking hard.

"Hmm…" Naminé deposited Jiminy on the edge of the tub and tapped her chin thoughtfully. "I can only choose one. I don't know if any of them would have the force needed to jar his memory."

"I just… I know it's for the best, but I still don't know whether I can keep this up for long. The last thing I want to do is cause him harm because of that. When it comes to doing what's necessary, you're definitely stronger than me, Naminé."

"I disagree," Naminé smiled gently. "Nobodies can be considered strong, in that they are able to consider all the options and take the best one without a conscience pulling them in irrational directions. But if their goal is misguided, they have nothing there to save them from themselves. What you're saying is the right thing, Jiminy. It's just that doing the right thing does not always do more good than harm."

"I think, maybe…" Jiminy said, "If only I could get out and reach the others, I could tell them what has been happening. And I could tell them our plan, so we'd have a better chance of making it work. I feel like I could be much more helpful that way, even though I am terrified of leaving Sora behind here. I would never forgive myself if I slipped up and caused something terrible to happen to him."

Naminé spent a couple of quick seconds thinking over the possibility. "That is actually a really great idea! If we could think of a way to make it happen, that is. You have a better chance of escaping than anyone. If you could hide in someone's coat, you would be protected from the darkness… but we'd have to figure out how to do it, and how to get you somewhere you wanted to go…"

"We will think of a way," Jiminy said firmly. "I don't care if it's dangerous. I'd rather face danger than lie."