This story begins at the start of KH2 and parallels its plot in an AU kind of way. I always hated that Roxas had to disappear so I imagined what it would be like if he got to have freedom a bit longer.

Please note!

As you can see, this fic is very old and has been on and off hiatus a lot.

Details not covered in the old canon (KH2 and earlier) are totally made up and NOT accurate to later canon. This fic's core premise is based on the outdated assumption that Nobodies don't have hearts, and the universe as it is in KH2. It's really not possible to correct it without nullifying the entire point of the plot.

Any new chapters, no matter when they come out, will still be based on an old canon that incorporates nothing past 358/2 Days (but is mostly KH2 and earlier).

For reference: chapters 1-18 were written between '07 and '08, 19-20 were in 2011, and 21 is from 2013.

Chapter 1 - A Botched Awakening

It was the sixth day of Sora's final restoration, and Riku was checking the conditions inside of his best friend's pod one last time. He pressed a few buttons on the small white pedestal attached to the floor, and after a few moments a holographic screen flitted into view.

"Restoration at 97 percent." The computerized female voice declared.

Riku was wearing his hood down for once, and the screen cast a faintly green tint on his tanned skin as he looked over all the most recent data. Everything seemed in order, yet Riku couldn't keep himself from feeling a little on-edge. He wished that they could hurry up and get it over with before anything went wrong. With the Organization breathing down their necks, speed and caution would be their allies. Riku dismissed the screen and looked up at the pod thoughtfully, just as he had looked at it many times before. When Naminé had initiated the final restoration, the once clear glass structure had turned solid white to match the room around it.

Even though Naminé had constantly assured him that Sora was fast asleep, Riku had never dared to be in the pod room with his face uncovered before, now that his face was transformed into Ansem's- perhaps permanently. It was just too unnerving- sometimes you could look in at just the right moment and see Sora staring right back at you. He would look around the room slowly and often mouth words as if he was standing in a completely different place. Riku knew that the slightest chance that Sora could remember any of the days in the pod room meant he was better off disguising himself as one of the nameless hooded beings that probably entered his friend's dreams occasionally too. He'd learned from Castle Oblivion that even supposedly erased memories never truly go away.

"What goes on in that funny little mind of yours, Sora? I don't think I'll ever quite understand how she does it." Riku said aloud with a small smile. His deepened voice clashed as oppressively with the surroundings as his black coat did. This is always where he felt the most out of place.

Of course, Riku didn't expect or need an answer to his question. He knew that Sora's dreams were serving an important purpose, had served an important purpose…and now it was all about to be over. All that remained was to prepare the equipment and ensure that Roxas made it here safely.

This thought made Riku feel a familiar twinge of guilt as he turned to leave the pod room; a feeling he quickly pushed down. Everything from Sora's current state to Roxas' very existence was, in Riku's mind, his responsibility; the product of a few very bad choices he had made. He had to correct that mistake, and it didn't matter whose feelings got hurt along the way.

Riku almost laughed. He'd caught himself again- Nobodies didn't have feelings, right? They only pretended too, after all. They didn't even have hearts.

Roxas doesn't even know that he's a Nobody, so how could he pretend? An annoying little voice in the corner of his mind nagged. Riku mentally swatted it away. It didn't matter. Sora needed to be rejoined with his Nobody in order to fully complete the restoration. Period.

"It's almost time." He said as he entered the computer room. DiZ was standing in front of the screens and complicated machinery on the wall. "Everything seems to be ready to go."

He walked to stand beside DiZ, who was typing furiously on a keypad. The older man didn't answer, and seemed to be troubled by something. "What's wrong?"

"We are quickly running out of time." DiZ said grimly. "There are too many Nobodies breaching the system- I can't pinpoint Roxas' location!" he slammed his fist down on the terminal and turned to Riku. "This is all Naminé's doing- her repeated interference is causing too many of Roxas' own memories to resurface. She's been teetering on the verge of telling him everything, and right now would be the most perfectly disastrous time for her to do it."

Riku looked at the screen depicting Twilight Town, and was alarmed to see that the number of advanced Nobodies it detected was fluctuating rapidly from two to five to three to five again, the number never higher than that five, and seldom lower than three. Two of course were a given- Roxas and Naminé. Axel often made a third, but never had it been any more than that…

"What's going on? I didn't think they were all so keen on getting Roxas back- since he deserted them." Riku said.

There was also a greater variety of lesser Nobodies- aside from the usual Dusks and the Assassins under Axel's command, there were also a few Snipers and Dragoons scattered around. Even with the Keyblade, would Roxas be able to fight off these higher-ranking foes? In his current state, it was questionable- and yet, him remembering his skills would be just as much of a detriment to their plan. Riku cursed.

"What are we going to do?"

"We must awaken Sora as soon as possible." DiZ said. "I will try to locate Roxas. In the meantime, Naminé must be moved to where we can keep an eye on her. You go and bring her here."

Riku bristled momentarily at being ordered around like this- and at the bandaged man's attitude toward Naminé. Was her life any better now than it had been before? Whether a prisoner of her own kind or of DiZ, she was always a prisoner, it seemed.

Riku shook his head as he ascended the stairs to the mansion above. He had to remind himself once again that everything they were doing was for Sora.

But would Sora approve of what you are doing? That persistent little voice said.

Sometimes Riku wished that he could be like Pinocchio, and have a conscience that was external…one that could leave him alone for a little while.

"Naminé?" Riku called softly as he knocked on the door to the White Room.

She did not answer.

Unexpectedly, Riku's heart clenched.

"Naminé?"

No response.

Riku could swear that something was moving around in there…

"I'm coming in." he pulled up his hood, opened the door, and was halfway inside the room when he stopped. What he saw in there was enough to stun him momentarily.

All the sketches that had once adorned the colorless walls were now ripped off, fluttering in the air or laying crumpled, dirty, and even torn on the floor. The vase on the table lay on its side, a chair was tipped over, and several dresser drawers were pulled out- the white clothes that had been in them tossed everywhere.

But worse than all that was the sight of four Dusks, all seemingly bent on destroying the rest of the room. As if Riku's entrance had disturbed them, the Dusks bounded around in their crazy way, knocking things over and dancing faster in their frenzy. One visibly shuddered before launching itself at Riku. The others were quick to follow.

Mayhem was induced for a few moments as Riku fought them. The first Dusk to reach him was launched backward and it skidded across the table, knocking the vase to the floor and shattering it. The Dusk slammed into the opposite wall before it slid to the ground and faded.

Riku cried in surprise as one of them twisted its flexible arm around his ankle. He stabbed the thing in the head and it slithered away, returning to stand with the remaining three. They stood back for a moment, swaying side to side as they seemed to contemplate their next move.

Riku didn't give them a chance. He rushed forward, using Reversal to great effect, defeating them easily. It seemed like a joke to send such a feeble force against him. What was going on? When the last Dusk disintegrated into the air, Riku stood up straight and looked angrily around. Naminé was nowhere to be seen. What in all the worlds had happened here?

DiZ isn't going to like this.

The warm, sun-stained streets of Twilight Town were the picture of peace. People strolled about in a lazy summer afternoon kind of way, window shopping in Tram Common or joining in on the talk that had already started about next year's Struggle tournament (as well as the enthusiastic play-by-play of this year's Struggle.) A young couple was picnicking on Sunset Hill, and workers were setting up booths in the Sandlot to prepare for the upcoming fair. It seemed that not a one of the townspeople could see or feel their world fraying at its edges. None of them, save for one, of course- Roxas. As was usual, he and his friends were sitting atop the station tower chatting over ice creams. Rather than joining in the conversation, however, Roxas was looking off quietly over the skyline of the town, into the distant horizon.

"I'd thought for sure there'd be something at the mansion at least." Pence complained. "What a waste of time."

"Hey, at least we got the dumb report done." Hayner said. "That's good enough for me. Now we can finally enjoy the rest of our vacation."

"The rest of our vacation?" Olette said incredulously. "What- two days? As if you were worried about it in the first place! You know, if it had been that much of a weight on your mind, we could've done it earlier, and then…"

"Yeah, whatever." Hayner yawned and flicked his popsicle stick out into space. Olette had a lecture about littering already on the tip of her tongue, but when she looked over to where Roxas sat, it faded away. He had that look on his face again- the one he got when his mind drifted off to strange and frightening things, things that none of the others could see or comprehend. Often when he did this he would stare at his hands, as if wondering why he existed at all. When she saw him like that, Olette would always do something to get his attention- anything to bring him back again.

"Roxas?"

"Huh?" Roxas blinked at her, and then looked at Hayner and Pence, who were both turned to him as well now. "Oh…sorry."

They were slowly losing him.

"You've been spaced out ever since you came back from the mansion." Hayner laughed. He was just as worried as Olette, but he never showed it. He'd felt a vague sense of foreboding from the first time Roxas told the group he'd had a funny dream. "Maybe it really is haunted and the girl in there did something to your brain. Pence's too, probably, though you wouldn't be able to tell the difference there."

"Hey!" Pence protested.

Roxas shrugged. He'd learned by now that no matter what weird things happened around Twilight Town, his friends would remain blissfully unaware of it. Roxas turned back to the glowing sunset and closed his eyes, feeling the warm breeze play with his spiky hair.

I hope Naminé is okay, he thought. He felt especially weird since the incident that had happened earlier. Out of place. Out of time, as if he had felt all along that that last trip to the mansion was supposed to be the end of him.

"What's going to happen to me now? Just tell me that." He looked down and added bitterly, "Nothing else really matters anymore."

"You are-"

Naminé was cut off by a laugh. Startled, they looked around, but there was nothing- nothing that could be seen, anyway.

"Well if it isn't Roxas and the witch-girl. How cute." A cloaked figure stepped out of the dark portal that had just appeared behind Naminé. "You really crack me up, kid. 'They're a bad group.'" He said mockingly, raising his voice in a poor imitation of Roxas. "I don't think you've ever sounded that naïve since the day we found you! I think Sora's rubbing off on you more than you'd like to admit, bro."

"Who are you?" Roxas demanded. "What do you want?"

"Oh, that's right, you don't remember." The hooded man said regretfully, crossing his arms. "Well, it doesn't matter. You will soon enough." He grabbed Naminé's arm, making her give out a startled cry.

"Naminé!" Roxas started to jump after them, but found a pack of Dusks in his way.

"Be a good boy now!" The cloaked man said with a cheerful wave as he backed into a dark portal, dragging Naminé with him.

"No! Roxas-!" Naminé started, reaching out one pale hand toward him, but her words were cut off as the portal vanished and became black swirls that dissolved into the air.

The Dusks closed in, and instantly the Keyblade was in Roxas' hand. He was very ready for a fight.

Strangely, though, they did not attack. Tense, looking around at the circle he'd been enclosed in, Roxas picked a Dusk and charged at it. The Dusk fluidly jumped away, but once again, nothing attacked.

"What's going on? Do something!" Roxas burst out in frustration- the one time he was more than eager to tear apart a few of these things…

Do not resist.

"Wh…" hearing the Dusk actually answer caught Roxas off guard enough that he hesitated; and when the floor beneath him turned into a circle of intangible darkness, all he could do was sink into it, watching up at the White Room as it quickly became nothing more than a faint pinprick in the distance.

Roxas opened his eyes again.

This town is his creation, right?

He looked over at Hayner, Pence, and Olette, who were in a friendly debate about something or another.

"I'm definitely going for the pie-eating contest this year." Hayner declared. "A few setbacks over the years mean nothing."

"Setbacks?" Olette snorted, "Hayner, you got sick at last year's fair and puked all over Pence!"

"Yeah…let's not have a repeat of that incident please." Pence shuddered.

"Well, what are you gonna do?" Hayner challenged Olette.

She smiled and curled a lock of hair around her finger. "Well, there's always the magic show."

Pence rolled his eyes. "Oh, you mean Maestro the Great, right?"

"You mean that dude with the lisp she has a crush on?" Hayner said in a stage whisper.

"No way!" Olette said, her cheeks flushing. "And he doesn't have a lisp! Do you even know what that is?"

Hayner shrugged. "I know it means he talks funny. Which he does."

"You're being really offensive."

Roxas could feel it again, the fragile surface of this town thinning, becoming nearly transparent.

We're living on borrowed time.

"'Ah, Olette,'" Hayner said dramatically, taking on a heavy accent. "'Your eyes are like ze finest of grasses to reside beneath our feets. Your-'" he couldn't keep it up with a straight face anymore and he burst out laughing. Pence was laughing along with him, and Olette looked like she was ready to hurt somebody very soon.

It was supposed to be over already. This world…

"If there are any other worlds out there, why did we end up on this one?" Roxas wondered aloud.

They all stopped to look at him.

"What?" Pence asked.

"Have you not ever wondered the reason why we were put here?" Roxas insisted it as fervently as if they ought to know exactly what he was talking about. "Why Twilight Town? Is it some kind of joke? A clever play on words? Or is it literally a place fading into darkness? Well, I guess it couldn't be, could it." He mumbled to himself, "It's not real."

"Roxas? Are you feeling okay? You're not making sense." Olette said with an uncertain smile.

Roxas looked at her intensely for a moment before dropping his gaze. "Yeah, just thinking out loud," he muttered, relenting from his tirade. "You know how weird I get when I don't get enough sleep."

Antagonizing Hayner, Pence, and Olette was pointless, really. Anything he said to them would either be smoothed over or erased from their memory, just like how his fall from the station tower had been. It was actually kind of funny to think of, knowing he could jump from a building here and not get hurt. He could tell his three friends everything, and they would probably not remember it later- if they believed him in the first place.

"Well, tomorrow's the perfect time to get all that stuff off your mind." Hayner said, clapping a hand on Roxas' shoulder. "Even more of a reason why you ought to join the contest with me! We can puke our guts out together!"

"Which will happen if the two of you are going to be competing against each other in it." Olette said dryly.

"Yeah," Pence laughed, "You'll regret it later if Roxas beats you again, you know."

"Nah." Hayner shrugged. "The only way he's gonna beat me is maybe in the contest of who has the most regurgitated pie by the end."

"Ew." Olette said, crinkling her nose. "You're so disgusting."

"Not as disgusting as you getting all goo-goo eyed over Mr. Maestro."

"What did you say?"

Slowly Roxas began once again to sink out of the conversation. He just couldn't concentrate.

What happened to Naminé? He wondered. What's going to happen to me?

Bizarre figures swirled through his mind- faces, places- things he'd never seen but felt he'd always known. The mysterious bandaged man and his accomplice… Axel, Naminé, Kairi, Riku, Donald, Goofy…

…Sora.

Just thinking the name made Roxas shudder. Although he still wasn't exactly sure what Sora was to him, the conversations he'd had with Naminé made it pretty clear that that was one person he wanted very much to stay away from. Not that she'd ever said as much.

She had said that Sora needed him in order to be completely whole again. What did that mean? Roxas wasn't sure he wanted to stick around to find out. But the maddening thing about it was that he had no idea how to leave, or even what he would do if he managed to. He now knew that he'd once been a part of the Organization. Would he go back?

No. Even if his identity now was a complete lie, it still didn't feel as if he could ever imagine himself donning the sinister black cloak under the title 'Number XIII' once again. Not to mention he got the feeling that they would not just accept him back so easily…ah, but these were futile thoughts. The Organization was the least of his concern when he didn't even know how to escape from this place- this strikingly real imitation of reality.

But what was this unsettling normalcy? Apart from the visit to the mansion this morning, nothing out of the ordinary had happened today. No sign of Axel, or the strange white creatures that attacked him. No sightings of the bandaged man or his hooded friend, either. He felt that something was missing- the strange events had come to an untimely halt, and as much as it bothered him to admit it, the lack of action probably meant something was wrong.

It was supposed to be over already.

Today was calm. Tomorrow was the fair.

The last day of summer.