So I'm just gonna scream into the void for a little bit because III is coming and I've been sitting on this for a year because my brain is a brat and I want to get something out.

Yeah, I actually started these a long time ago. Like, a long time even before this years-long hiatus, because, just... Twilight Town. ALL of Twilight Town. So, so many awful decisions by everyone... II.5 coming out got me some motivation to start working on them again, except... Well, part of the delay was just life, and me hitting one of those points where I just can't seem to write anything, but the other part was that this ended up expanding a lot and then I got stuck on the last one for a long time and... Whatever. Here we are. Because, really, Axel? We saw the Dusks.

...I'm not the only one who actually counted the steps, am I?

It's (Not) A Wonderful Life

or

What Were You Even Doing, Axel?

Scene I – Along Came A Nobody...

Take One – Stop and Stair

Roxas followed his friends off the train, smiling at Hayner's enthusiasm as he tore off. For as much as the other boy had complained about the independent study, he was really getting into it now that they had an idea. And after all the strange things that had happened in the last few days, Roxas was relieved he could still do something normal with his friends, even if it was homework.

And that wasn't even getting into how grateful he felt about how so many people were going to help him figure out what was going on. If they were willing to do that for him, he was more than willing to let the weirdness wait.

(Privately, he was glad for the distraction from his own worries, too. Because he knew he'd fallen off the station tower, but what he remembered and what his friends remembered were different from each other. And if he tried, he could remember what his friends did, but the memories felt fuzzy and off, just like when Roxas had tripped in front of the station and that guy in the black coat may or may not have stolen their beach trip money. Between the dreams and everything else going on lately, if he couldn't even trust his own memories...

(One day. Just one more normal day with his friends before they found out how crazy he might be.)

"Huh..." Roxas slowed at the top of the stairs of the station platform, Pence stopping along with him. "Aren't these the steps you talked about? The ones that count different going up and down?"

"Umm..." Pence smiled nervously. "Actually, it's the stupidest thing ever, but..."

"What?" Roxas asked. Hopefully they hadn't come out here for nothing...

Pence rolled his eyes, looking embarrassed for some reason. "Rai's the one who counted. He's like, 'every time I count it's different, y'know?'" Pence laughed as he finished his impression, using the humor to cover up his uneasiness.

Roxas smiled as well before glancing at the steps. No wonder Pence had been so reluctant to answer. He didn't have anything particularly against Rai, but the musclebound teen wasn't exactly the sharpest guy around. And he did have really long legs – Roxas wouldn't be surprised if Rai had skipped a step and simply not realized it. "So he just counted wrong?"

Pence nodded ruefully and Roxas sighed. Yep, all this way for nothing...

"Hey, no worries!" Pence said quickly, catching Roxas's expression. He hooked an arm around the other boy's shoulders, leading him down the steps as his free hand dug into a pocket. "We've still got plenty of other Wonders to investigate!" He pulled out a folded piece of paper, waving it in the air to unfold it. "I've even got a map, see?"

"Yeah," Roxas agreed, perking up. He glanced back at the station as they walked, stopping at the corner landing. Rai was Rai, sure, but after all the strange things that had happened this week... "Guess it wouldn't hurt to double-check, though."

Pence grinned. "Good idea. That way we'll have our own data for the report instead of just rumors. I'll see if I can track down some more information on the rest."

Roxas nodded, waving his friend off as Pence continued down the stairs and around the corner. "Okay, then," he said, heading back up. "One, two..."

Sixteen steps going up, if he counted the platform at the station as a "step." Grinning to himself (hey, he might as well have fun with it, right?), he turned around and started down.

"...thirteen, fourteen – whoa!"

The landing at the bottom of the stairs had disappeared, replaced with a pool of inky darkness. Momentum carried him down to the fifteenth step, where he spun on the ball of his foot to try and change direction. He wobbled, arms windmilling in the air as he fought both to keep his balance and to avoid remembering how he'd fallen – nearly fallen? – off the tower yesterday. His heels hanging off the edge of the step, however, made it difficult to properly shift his weight, and a surge of panic clenched tight around his heart as he felt himself tip backwards.

His cry for help was cut short as he fell into the pool, vanishing without a trace.

Take Two – With Friends Like These...

Pence followed his map to an alleyway, stopping at the corner to look back at Roxas. "This is 'The Friend from Beyond the Wall,'" he intoned softly, using his "dramatic" voice. "Though the alley stands empty, a mysterious force will throw a ball out to passersby, inviting them to join its game."

"Really?" Roxas asked with a grin, keeping his own voice low. He peered cautiously around the corner, seeing nothing but the empty alleyway.

"Well..." Pence shrugged, straightening and dropping all pretense of drama. "That's what they say, but it's probably just somebody hiding back there and throwing out a ball to startle people."

"Oh," Roxas said, not bothering to hide his disappointment. He walked to the middle of the alley's opening, looking at the blank walls of the dead end. "Guess that's another dud, then."

"Yeah," Pence said, seeming just as disappointed as he started walking away. "Time for the next one?"

"Guess so," Roxas agreed. It was weird, though. Aside from the opening he was standing at, the alley was completely closed off – there wasn't even a window. If there was no other way out, why hadn't the person throwing the ball been caught yet?

"Roxas?" Pence asked, turning around when he realized his friend hadn't come with him.

"Go ahead. I'll... catch up," Roxas said. Not waiting for Pence's answer, he walked into the alleyway, stopping in front of the brick wall at the far end. Could somebody climb it? At least far enough to reach the lower roof on the right side? It wouldn't be easy, sure, but maybe with a running start... He looked up, gauging the walls' heights as one hand idly touched the wall to test for a hand-hold.

A large swirl of shadows appeared under his hand, and, caught off-guard, Roxas felt his hand sink into it, past what had a moment ago been the perfectly solid wall. A hand in a black glove, arm in an equally black sleeve, shot out from the hole and grabbed his arm above the elbow, holding on tight. Before he could blink, let alone call for help, Roxas was yanked through the shadows.

Take Three – Maybe We Don't Exist

"Moans from the tunnels, huh...?" Roxas stood at the entrance of the town's underground transit tunnels, the comparatively dim lighting within making it difficult to see. Following another "Wonders" rumor and Pence's map had led him here, the other boy interviewing someone nearby that was claiming to be a witness. The tunnels had been closed for repairs or cleaning or something in the main town block, though this section was still open. The tunnels being shut down wasn't really a big deal, since the trains' town line was free and they didn't get much use anymore, but it was odd this part would be left open when it only led to the currently closed-off main town.

There were plenty of ghost stories about the tunnels, but Pence's summer project last year had debunked most of them, to the occult fan's chagrin. Roxas couldn't remember any that specifically involved moaning, though it was entirely possible he'd forgotten a few.

To tell the truth, Roxas had always thought the tunnels looked iffy. It didn't matter how well-maintained he knew they were, it was hard getting over how much darker they seemed compared to the brighter sunlight Twilight Town usually enjoyed. But they'd have to investigate eventually. Not waiting for Pence, Roxas headed in with a sigh, following the tunnel out of sight until it widened to the large maintenance area that connected to the town block. But rather than finding nothing, as he'd expected, he saw Vivi standing by himself in the middle of the empty room.

"Vivi?" Roxas wondered aloud before starting over.

The younger boy turned around at hearing his approach, a Struggle bat in one hand. Suddenly remembering the tournament and all the strangeness that had followed, Roxas slowed to a stop, unable to remember what he'd been about to say. After a moment of awkward silence, he cleared his throat and tried again. Vivi had qualified for the finals before all this weirdness had started, right? "Hey, Vivi. Were you, uh, practicing...?"

Rather than answer, Vivi lifted his Struggle bat, holding it in front of him with both hands. A flicker of motion to the side caught Roxas's attention, and when he glanced that way he saw a second Vivi, mimicking the first's pose. Another flicker to the opposite side revealed a third Vivi, and Roxas swallowed hard against the sudden dread.

His hands clenched to fists, wishing this kind of thing would just stop already, before pulling out the Struggle bat he'd started carrying around. He still couldn't call the Keyblade when he wanted, and he'd convinced himself it was better than nothing, but it suddenly seemed woefully inadequate.

The Vivis weren't going to give him time to complain, though, the one in the center leaping forward in a spinning attack with a tinny cry, like a bad-quality recording. The one on the left rolled further to the side, trying to loop around behind him as the one on the right leaped straight up, Struggle bat growing large enough to reach across the distance separating them.

Roxas dashed to the left, avoiding both attacks and whacking the middle Vivi on the way. The bat passed through the Vivi clone without resistance, as if there was nothing there, but to his surprise, the clone vanished in a swirl of translucent green numbers. Maybe this wasn't so hopeless, after all. Feeling more confident, Roxas turned on the Vivi coming up behind him, a quick vertical cut wiping it out as well, and then spun to the final clone.

Except it wasn't the final clone. More Vivis had appeared when he hadn't been looking, at least half a dozen spreading to surround him and back him into the corner. One by one, they started giggling, that same tinny quality to the noise as it repeated from one to the other, like a series of broken records all caught at the same point.

Roxas readied his bat, eyes switching warily from one Vivi to the next, trying to guess which would attack first. More had phased in, the circle now ten strong. The giggling cut off abruptly as the Vivis began to glow, each encased in a bright light that all burst open at once. And in their places were those strange white things from before.

At some unknown signal they all moved, some stretching their limbs unnaturally long and others writhing, snakelike, both along the ground and in the air. Roxas raised his bat to attempt to block, desperately wishing the Keyblade would show up already. None of the creatures attacked him, though; at least, not like usual. One whipped through the air behind him, wrapping itself around his middle and tying itself into a tight knot, pinning his arms to his sides. Caught off-guard by the unexpected tactic, he hesitated for a second too long as another planted its feet into the ground, stretching its arms up and over him to drape across his shoulder, pulling itself taut and pressing down on him heavily.

"Wait, stop –!" Roxas protested as a third threw itself across his other shoulder, the weight starting to get to him. He spread his feet, trying to catch himself, but a forth creature twisted between his legs, jerking them together at the ankles and making him lose his balance. He fell backwards to the ground with a thud, the creatures taking the opportunity to wrap around him more securely, one of them covering his mouth with its too-long, too-flexible fingers. The others hooked hands or feet around the ones binding him, wriggling in the air to lift them as a whole and float them to the dark hole that had opened in the wall.

Seeing the inky black opening, Roxas renewed his struggle, but the strange, rubbery bodies of the creatures holding him squeezed tighter, making it hard to even breathe. With his hands pinned like this, even if he could get the Keyblade to appear, it wouldn't do him any good. He was totally helpless, unable to even scream for help as he was carried into the darkness.

Take Four – Mirror, Mirror

Roxas stopped at the top of the steps that led into the tucked-away square, glancing around the shady spot. Olette had pointed him this way, saying it felt suspicious, but nothing looked amiss so far. The waterfall fountain on one side was the only thing of any interest, and there were no obvious places for someone to hide.

Shrugging, Roxas headed in anyway. About halfway through he caught sight of something moving out of the corner of his eye, and whirled around to face it, raising one hand defensively while the other dropped to his side, resting on the handle of his Struggle bat. But it was only the fountain, the sheet of water reflecting his image just like a mirror.

With a weak chuckle of relief, Roxas walked over, inspecting the water more closely and watching the reflection mimic his movements. He'd never noticed the fountain had a trick like this before... "I guess this is the source of those doppelganger rumors, then," he said, squinting to see through the water and make sure it really was just the stone wall beyond.

His reflection suddenly came forward all on its own, stepping free from the water and then walking right through him. Roxas shook off the sudden déjà vu, pushing away images of a black coat and a crumbling castle (because that had never happened to him), and whirled around to face his "double." It had stopped right behind him, the translucent form clouding over with hazy smoke and turning entirely black. When Roxas took a step back the shadow simply reached out and grabbed him by the collar as more smoke tendrils billowed up around them.

"Hey, wait –" he started to protest, grabbing the shadow's wrist to try and break the hold. As soon as he touched the strange, almost springy substance, the shadows along the ground leaped up and formed a dome around them, blocking everything out. Then the shadows flattened to the ground again and disappeared, leaving the square completely empty.

Take Five – In the Bag

Roxas made it to the top of Sunset Hill, and, sure enough, there was the bag he'd heard about. It was pretty large – too big for any of the trash cans scattered at the top of the hill – but otherwise didn't seem too strange. He started towards it, figuring he may as see what was inside.

And then the bag twitched. Roxas stopped, blinking and wondering if he'd imagined it, but when he took another step, the bag not only twitched, it bolted to the other side of the hill.

"What the...?" Roxas stared in shock for a few seconds, watching the bag start slowly circling the edge of the hill, then shook his head to clear it. There was definitely something in that bag. If he wanted to figure it out, he'd just have to catch it.

Roxas slowly crept up behind the bag, watching it carefully in case it decided to bolt again. When he was close enough, he tackled it, landing solidly on top and planning to weigh it down too much to move.

Except whatever was in the bag was way stronger than it looked. As soon as he landed it took off, and he blindly grabbed at the fabric of the bag to keep his seat. Seeing one of the trash cans directly in front of them, he wrapped an arm around whatever was inside the bag and yanked hard to the side, thankfully making it turn in time.

The bag wasn't done with him yet, though. It veered further to the side, heading towards the memorial statue of the station tower. Roxas yanked at the fabric again, the shape inside the bag slipping through his hold as they just barely turned in time to avoid ramming into the stone. Unfortunately, that left it running towards the fence outlining the hill. And despite Roxas's best attempts, he couldn't get a grip on the thing inside the bag again. He pulled on the bag as far to the side as he could with his other hand, but their course didn't even waver, heading right for the railing.

He was just about to let go of the bag and forget about the Wonder when it leaped into the air. Roxas clutched harder at the bag on instinct, heart suddenly pounding as he and the bag sailed over the side of the hill to the train tracks below. He closed his eyes, bracing himself for the impact.

An impact that never came, as a pool of darkness swirled open in the middle of the tracks, right below them. The boy and the bag dropped through without a sound, and the darkness shrank away and disappeared.

Scene II – The Helpful Hacker of Hollow Bastion

"I can see you're upset," Axel said blandly as he crossed his chakram in front of his face, holding back Roxas's Keyblade from its intended course before throwing the teen back.

Roxas landed with a slight skid, catching himself with one hand against what passed for the ground in this weird place, ignoring the colored light and streams of an odd emblem that were all there were to see. Bright lights shone at either "end" of the space, which he could only hope were exits – provided he could get past the guy in the black coat.

"Upset? Upset!?" he repeated, glaring at Axel as he straightened. "You kidnapped me!"

"Rescued," Axel corrected cheerfully, pointing up with one finger as his chakram swung carelessly from his thumb. "I get that they did a number on your memory, but you've gotta remember something, right?"

"I – no!" Roxas shouted, hands tightening around his weapon's grip as he launched forward in another attack. "Take me back!"

Axel side-stepped the lunge, deflecting the Keyblade with his chakram. "No can do," he said as Roxas stumbled past him. "Got these nasty orders. Either you come with me..." The spiked wheels ignited as he threw them, one slamming into the ground directly in front of Roxas, forcing him to lurch to a stop, nearly losing his balance. The second embedded itself to his side, angled so the only open route left was the one that led to the psycho redhead.

"Or I've gotta destroy you," Axel finished, all traces of lightheartedness gone from his voice and face. Sparks drifted around his hands, ready to either call back his weapons or summon new ones.

"Why!?" Roxas demanded, anger at Axel, at the man in the red cloak, at everything boiling over. "Why am I so important? Why is the Keyblade such a big deal? Why can't you just leave me ALONE!?"

On impulse – on instinct – he threw the Keyblade at Axel. He took a small measure of satisfaction as bright green eyes went wide, watching as it spun end-over-end. The fires behind him vanished as Axel recalled the chakram, too late to prevent the giant key from slamming hilt-first into his chest. Rather than keep fighting, however, Roxas spun on his heel and bolted, running for the nearest light and praying it really was an exit.

"Roxas, wait!" Axel called after him, the words full of a panic and concern that the teenager couldn't understand. He charged through the light, continuing to run even as it got harder to see, eyes squeezing almost completely shut.

There was a moment when he felt suspended in space, but only one. The sound of his steps changed immediately after, and his eyes flew open as he skidded to a stop to avoid running into the computer console that had suddenly appeared. The console was set on a balcony overlooking a vast room, lights and what looked like some kind of pods lining the metal walls. Behind him was a large device, set with a giant red light. He gaped at it for a moment, but couldn't spend the time to wonder what it was: Axel had to be right behind him.

There was an elevator to the side, but since it only had one button he went for the opposite door. He ran across the metal catwalk to a room that looked like it was from a completely different building, grey metal swapped for a lighter and brighter beige – or something, he wasn't really paying attention. It was also trashed, debris scattered over the carpets and bookshelves spilling their contents across the ground. Roxas only slowed enough to avoid what looked like broken glass containers, and immediately picked up speed again when the machine behind him started running, making strange sounds along with the standard whirrs and beeps.

He made it through the room and shut the wooden door behind him, wondering if he could lock it with the Keyblade and deciding to keep running and not waste time trying. Whoever built this place must have been crazy, because the walls here changed again, this time to a darker, more orange color, with tiled flooring and a lot more pipes. The hall opened up to a large room with several exits, and he choose one at random, running so fast he barely made the turn around the corner. The loss of speed as he skidded to keep his footing turned out to be a good thing, though, as the hall he'd picked led to a dead end, blocked with rusted, broken pipes and pieces of caved-in ceiling.

"Oh, are you kidding me!?" Roxas groaned. He froze when he heard his name called, Axel finally catching up. He pressed against the wall, peering back around the corner. Axel lurched to a stop in the middle of the room, head whipping from one side to the other, clearly panicking. He took two quick steps forward, then jerked to a halt, apparently reconsidering. He spun to the hall on the opposite side of the one Roxas was hiding in, long legs covering the distance quickly.

Roxas bit his lip, considering his options. Axel might know this was a dead end and not check, but he was definitely searching. He'd find Roxas's hiding place. But if Roxas could manage to follow Axel and stay out of sight, they'd have to reach an exit eventually, right?

Deciding it was worth the risk, Roxas ran for the hallway he'd first come through, keeping as quiet as he could. He made it just before Axel returned, heading straight across the room for the dead-end Roxas had just vacated. The teen held his breath as Axel reached the dead end and turned back. He stopped in the middle of the room again and shot a worried look around before heading for the last hallway.

...Why did he feel bad for his would-be kidnapper?

Roxas pushed aside the inexplicable pang of sympathy, creeping across the room as quickly as he dared. He had to keep Axel in sight – just one missed turn could get him lost. Or worse, found.

The next handful of minutes he spent following Axel were completely nerve-wracking. There were two separate close calls as Axel suddenly backtracked, getting more and more obviously agitated as he searched and found nothing. But Roxas managed, trying all the while to ignore the sense of déjà vu. And then he got a lucky break, and Axel began bypassing turnoffs. Roxas suppressed a grin, willing to bet they were heading straight for the exit.

Sure enough, Axel soon reached an empty door frame, through which Roxas could see sunlight. His grin widened as Axel stepped out, narrow shoulders slumping as he sighed in defeat. Head down, he raised one arm, and shadows swirled up into an oval. The redhead walked into the shadows, and they collapsed to the ground and vanished, leaving a clear and open path.

Mission accomplished, Roxas thought to himself, satisfied as he walked out.

...Now he just need to figure out where the heck he was, because all that blue stone meant he was definitely not in Twilight Town anymore.

And now, just for giggles. (And because I want to do all seven Wonders.)

Bonus: Ain't No Getting Off This Train

Roxas climbed the stairs to the station platform two at a time, reaching the top with a giddy rush when he saw the mysterious train was still there. His friends were close behind him, and Roxas thought about waiting for them to catch up, wanting to share this like they'd always shared everything. But with the way things had been going this week, and today especially, he wasn't sure he could actually trust the Ghost Train to still be there after the few seconds he would wait.

So he didn't. He kept running, hand outstretched to grab the bar set into the side of the train, right next to the door. A panicked shout of his name made him look back, confused, and he saw his friends on the platform, all wearing identical, horrified expressions. Hayner bolted after him at the exact second Roxas felt his hand wrap securely around the cool metal bar.

He felt the bottom drop out of his stomach with a sudden weightlessness, and his vision bled out to white. No, not his vision, he realized, eyes locking on the brightly colored train he clung to – his surroundings. The station platform behind him, the train tracks beneath him, even the warm orange sunset staining the sky simply vanished. Only the train stubbornly remained, a blue and purple island in an endless sea of white light that was steadily getting brighter and brighter – so bright he didn't notice the translucent green numbers floating in the air. Roxas squeezed his eyes shut against the light, going so far as to cover his face with his free hand while his other clutched all the tighter at the bar.

And then even that support was gone, and he lurched forward a step, eyes flying open in a panic that the train had disappeared, too. But it hadn't: somehow, Roxas had gotten inside, sneakers sinking into the plush orange carpet. He caught his balance easily, the sense of weightlessness gone, but didn't move yet, eyes fixed on the star-shaped windows. Twilight Town was still missing. The outside of the train was instead filled with a vast night sky, spread out in every direction as auroras hung like shimmering curtains on either side.

After a moment of waiting to see if anything else weird was going to happen, Roxas carefully made his way to one of the windows. He rested one knee on the seats lining the train car for a better view, searching the endless sky for... anything, really – a destination, the ground, something – but only saw glowing tracks made of light stretching out ahead and behind, vanishing in the distance.

"What's... going on...?" he wondered out loud. Was this like when he'd met Naminé, and been taken to that strange place with that huge white monster? The train was definitely weird enough for something like that to happen. And he had that same sense of – well, it wasn't off-balance, exactly, but was definitely the feeling that something had shifted, like he was just different than he normally was. More solid, maybe? But that didn't make sense. Because if he was crazy and dreaming this up, there was no reason his normal life should feel more like the dream.

Suddenly exhausted by thoughts and emotions he didn't want to examine right now, Roxas turned away from the window. The train car was empty; no one waited in the other seats, and he'd seen the empty cabin at the front when it had gone under Sunset Hill. There was no clue as to when the train would stop – or even if it would, Roxas realized, biting down on a sudden, half-hysterical laugh as an echo of Pence's "NO RETURN" played through his head.

He slumped into the seat, rubbing his eyes against the burning sensation that he told himself was because he was too tired. It was just his luck to solve the Ghost Train Mystery by getting abducted. This week had been way too long.

Well, if he was getting kidnapped by a haunted train to an uncertain fate, at least the seats were comfortable. Taking advantage of the fact there was no one else there and stops seemed unlikely, Roxas abandoned the usual rules of train etiquette and stretched out on the seat, lying on his side so he could watch the stars through the windows on the opposite wall of the train. The train rode smoothly on the tracks, rattling softly in a steady, almost hypnotic rhythm that could easily lull him to sleep.

And maybe if he drifted off, he'd wake up back in his room again and remember that weird things like this only happened in dreams. And he'd apologize for flaking out on his friends again, and buy ice cream to help smooth things over, and they'd all spend their last day of summer vacation together up on the clock tower's ledge, just like always. And it would be normal and quiet and perfect, and he'd forget all these dreams that made him wonder which life was really his.

Roxas woke with a jolt as a whistle blew from the front of the train, which really should have been much louder considering how close it was. Below him, the brakes squealed and he felt the train's speed start to drop. The stop itself was just as smooth as the ride had been, momentum pulling Roxas towards the front for only a moment, and he had the surreal thought that maybe the brakes were that loud less because of physics and more because they were being polite, like it was a cough to get his attention.

Sitting up and looking around the still-empty train car, he struggled to decide if he was disappointed. On the one hand, he was still here, so the train ride hadn't been some made-up delusion or weird event like his maybe-fall off the clock tower, which meant he probably wasn't crazy. On the other hand, he wasn't back home. The sky outside the windows was still devoid of any kind of structure, let alone the familiar rooftops of Twilight Town, making that clear. Although, there was an odd kind of light to the sky now, so even though the stars were still clear, it was brighter than it had been before.

Before he could figure it out or get up to take a better look, one of the train doors near the front slid open with a soft hiss. Roxas stood, glancing out the windows on that side. There was definitely land out there, even a couple trees. And rising behind those trees was a strange, crooked tower, made of tan stone and following no logical design he could figure out. Several pointed, green roofs decorated not only the top of the tower but also what seemed like rooms jutting out from its sides with no other support, defying what little Roxas knew about architecture.

Near the top was a line of windows, and with a start, Roxas realized some of them were lit.

He bit his lip, thinking. It wasn't home. He had no idea where he was. But he also didn't know if the train would make any other stops. Ever. And there had to be people here, right? With the tower and the lights? Maybe they could help? It had to be better than just being stuck on the train forever, didn't it?

Still uncertain, Roxas stepped out of the train, vaguely relieved when the ground turned out to actually be as solid as it looked. The relief stopped being vague when he saw how small the area was, and especially when he saw that it was floating in the sky. The haze of light he'd noticed before was from the bright clouds that swirled below them, glowing cheerfully orange as though they weren't indicative of certain death if he fell. He hurriedly moved further from the edge, looking around, and caught sight of what looked like mountaintops poking out of the clouds, scattered in the distance here and there. Okay, okay, maybe this was another mountaintop and it wasn't actually floating, but Roxas wasn't going to check. One fall-to-what-should-have-been-his-death was enough for the week, thanks. Maybe staying on the train wasn't such a bad idea.

As if reading his mind, the train chose that exact moment to disappear. White light in streams and sparkles flowed over the train, before the whole thing flashed and vanished, leaving only the tracks behind.

"Oh," Roxas said weakly, resisting the urge to drop to the ground and never move again. "There goes my ride."

Left with no other choice, he forced himself to walk to the tall wooden doors of the tower, raised one hand, and knocked. Almost immediately, the half of the double-door with a crescent moon on it swung open with a creak, wide and inviting.

It would have been more inviting if there had been anyone inside.

"Great," he said to himself, with a quiet, nervous laugh as he walked in. "This day just gets better and better."

He jumped when the door shut itself behind him, but resisted the urge to run over and make sure it wasn't locked. It wasn't like he had anywhere else to go; the train was still gone. So instead he kept moving forward, climbing the stairs that spiraled up the walls. At the top was another wooden door, with a gold triangle surrounded by decorative swoops of more gold, and what looked like a crescent moon and stars etched into the triangle. It wasn't locked when Roxas tried it, so he shrugged went through, hoping this wouldn't turn out to be a bad idea.

A second of dizziness and déjà vu made him sway, vision blurring for a moment as he stepped into a large room, dominated by a wooden desk paired with a (very) high-backed chair. Sitting at the desk was an old man in blue robes with a long grey beard, eyes closed and fingertips pressed together in front of his chest as though deep in thought. On top of his head was a pointed blue hat with a crescent moon and stars, belatedly making Roxas realize that the triangle from the door was, in fact, a wizard hat like in the fairy tales he'd read as a kid.

"Um..." Roxas walked closer, not sure if he'd been noticed and trying to act less nervous than he felt. "Hello? I got brought here by this train..."

The old man opened his eyes, and Roxas trailed off, swallowing. The man didn't look mean, but it was unsettling how much wider the small pupils made his eyes look. And even if the frown he was wearing looked more thoughtful than upset, it still wasn't helping Roxas get his voice back.

"I apologize," the old man said, voice deeper than Roxas was expecting. "You are not who I was waiting for. I was unaware there was another wielder of the Keyblade."

That did the trick. "A Keyblade?" Roxas repeated, latching onto the one familiar thing like a lifeline. "You mean like what that Sora guy has?"

The old man's eyebrows rose. "You have met Sora?" he asked, interest clear.

"Uh, not... exactly," Roxas said, wincing. Then he straightened, realizing that the old man had recognized the name. "Wait, you know who he is?"

But the old man shook his head. "I know of those who do, but I have not met him, either. He was the one that I sent the train out to find." Those wide eyes focused on Roxas again, intent. "But that you are here is proof you can also wield a keyblade, or the train would not have brought you."

"Well..." Roxas hesitated. The Keyblade had only seemed to show up when it wanted to, not when he wanted it. Was that enough to count? In his dreams, it had always seemed to fit better in Sora's hands than it did in his own.

The Keyblade chooses its wielder, a friendly voice echoed in his mind, unbidden but there all the same. And it chose you.

Something warm stirred in his chest, and Roxas felt his doubt fade. That memory may not be his, but that didn't make the words any less true for him than they had been for Sora. Finally starting to feel confident about something, he lifted one hand. With a small burst of light, the Keyblade appeared, firm and real and for the first time comfortable in his grip. There was no line of green numbers like there had been outside the abandoned mansion – this felt more like the time in that dark place with the stained glass platforms. It felt more solid in his hands now, and somehow he knew he wouldn't have any trouble calling it again.

Despite everything that had gone wrong this week, that made him smile.

"I see." Roxas looked up and found the old man was smiling at him from the other side of the desk. The small smile went a long way to softening the hard features of his face, to the point Roxas might even say that now he looked kind. "This is a fortuitous turn of events. Perhaps you will be able to find Sora where I have not."

"Wait," Roxas said, dropping his hand and feeling the Keyblade vanish (and, for once, not regretting that it had). "You mean I could actually meet him? For real?"

The old man nodded, running a hand down his beard to smooth it as he stood. "Few things happen entirely by chance. If my attempts to find Sora have led me to you, then you must be connected to him in some way."

Roxas grinned, excited for the chance to finally meet the person he'd seen in so many dreams, then paused, remembering something important. "I'll help, no problem, but what about my friends? They must be freaked out. I should let them know I'm okay."

The old man nodded. "I can arrange for the train to take you back to your world." He frowned, looking thoughtful again. "But there are many strange occurrences of late, worlds where the darkness is gaining greater sway. Perhaps it would be best for my apprentice Mickey to accompany you once he returns."

"But –" Roxas started to protest, wanting to get back home as soon as possible. Then he remembered the strange white creatures that had been practically stalking him for the last few days, not to mention Axel's attempted kidnapping. "Okay," he sighed, reluctantly agreeing.

"It will not be long," the old man promised, probably reading the resignation on his face. He gestured to the other wall, pointing out a door Roxas hadn't noticed. "If you would like, I'm certain the faeries in the next room would be happy to show you around while you are waiting."

Roxas nodded in thanks, heading for the door and trying not to think about the way his friends' faces had looked the last time he'd seen them. At least he'd have a heck of a story for their summer project. Ghost Train Mystery, finally solved! Pence would be thrilled. Assuming he got the story out before Hayner punched him for worrying them. But Olette would make sure it didn't get too far. She always did. And then they could have ice cream on the clock tower ledge again and laugh the whole thing off.

He shoved down the uneasy feeling that there was something important that he had forgotten about. The three – the four of them would always be best friends. Right?

Bonus II: On the Road (to a Hero) Again

Roxas bit his lip, fighting down... he wasn't sure. Tears? At the fact that not only was Seifer planning to help him figure out what was going on lately, but that Hayner had asked, when the two could barely pass each other without firing shots at one another, verbal or otherwise? Or maybe a sigh, at how he'd managed to screw up his friends' offered kindness by focusing on his own problems yet again?

But in the end he just swallowed, loosening the tightness of his throat and returning his attention to the haunted mansion. "So what're we looking for?" he asked Pence, studying the heavy lock and chain that held the gate shut. How were they planning to get past that, anyway...?

"Well," Pence said, turning towards him, "they say there's a girl who appears at the second floor window... even though no one's lived here for years."

Roxas breathed a soft "Huh," as he looked at the mansion again, now peering through the gate for a glimpse of the window. The mansion used to belong to the family that had built the clock tower, but it was so out-of-the-way that no one had bothered trying to fix it up after it had been abandoned... what, twelve years ago? There was some ghost story about it, something about monsters with red eyes...

His thoughts cut off as he caught sight of a white curtain fluttering in the second-story window, curled around the slight figure of a girl in an equally white dress.

As soon as he registered the sight, Roxas was somewhere else. A white room, scattered with hand-drawn pictures that were the only colors to be seen. A white curtain fluttered in front of a window, making him realize he was in the second-story room. But how...?

A picture to his side drew his attention. A town at the base of a mountain, red rooftops peeking out among green bushes and palm trees – Sora's home. The main island, just a short boat ride away from the tiny playground Sora and his friends loved so much. The path Kairi had been walking down the day before.

Kairi. There was a picture of her, too, on the next wall, holding a paopu fruit. Roxas stared at it longer than he had the other, something buzzing in the back of his mind. He knew what Kairi looked like from his dreams about Sora. So why did he keep thinking her hair was supposed to be black?

"Roxas..."

"Naminé?" He spun around, the odd feeling vanishing as the blonde girl faded into the space behind him.

She held a finger to her lips, asking him for silence, just as she had before. But this time there was no smile playing behind her hand. "I'm sorry. I wasn't supposed to talk to you again. But..." Her eyes drifted to the side, and Roxas glanced over his shoulder to see another picture, this one of him – and Axel. "You deserve to know the truth. At least once."

He frowned, giving the picture a suspicious look before turning back to Naminé. "What truth?"

"The truth about all of it." She waved her hand in a broad sweep around the room, indicating all the pictures tacked to the walls and spread on the table and floor. "All the questions you had, the friends you made, everything that you forgot..."

She took a deep, steadying breath, drawing herself up to give him a firm, determined look that was so painfully familiar it made his breath catch. "But we can't talk here. Not really. This is just a memory I'm creating for you. I can only plant it moment by moment, and the longer we talk, the more likely DiZ will notice." She held her hands in front of her stomach, fingertips pressed together. "So I'll need to bring you somewhere else. I'm sorry."

There was a moment the air seemed to bend and distort, and Roxas heard wind rushing in his ears. Everything seemed to shift around him, and he stumbled forward, trying to brace himself against the wall.

Then everything went dark.

The walls and floor vanished, as did the pictures, the table, everything except Naminé herself. She stood quietly, glowing in the darkness just like she had in that dream, pale eyes locked on him as he turned one way and the other, not sure what he thought he might see.

And then the ground was back, but everything was suddenly much too bright. Roxas shielded his face with one hand as he winced, the other reaching for something to steady himself, but found nothing. Already off-balance from the last few seconds, he reached too far and fell, curling up on his side on the ground, still covering his eyes.

"Roxas!" Surprise and worry were clear in Naminé's voice. Her hand touched lightly at his shoulder, clearly trembling before it fluttered away again. "I'm sorry, I should have warned you but we had so little time and I didn't want DiZ to find out what I was doing –"

Roxas groaned, pressing his fingertips against his eyelids. Naminé's ramble cut off, and he peeked out between his fingers to see her sitting on her knees beside him, biting hard on her bottom lip and fingers twisted together in front of her stomach. He pushed himself upright as she watched, eyes glancing over him nervously. "What... was that?" he managed, shaking his head to clear it.

Naminé looked down at the ground, hands moving to press against her lap. "A corridor of darkness. It's risky, but it's the only way to travel between worlds without a Gummi ship or a keyblade."

"Worlds...?" Roxas repeated. Blinking, he looked around. He and Naminé were sitting in the center of a square of warm golden sand, surrounded on all sides with tall stone walls. On opposite walls were raised stands, doors sealed with heavy metal bars on the remaining two. On either side of the doors were paintings of warriors, swords raised. "Wait. Isn't this...?"

"The Coliseum," Naminé answered quietly, fingers twisting together. "Outside the city of Thebes, near the base of Mount Olympus. The world where Sora met Hercules." She took a breath. "And where you met Philoctetes."

Roxas shook his head again, trying to clear the sudden buzz of static. "But I never..." He'd always lived in Twilight Town, with Hayner, Pence, and Olette. And even now, those blurry memories of this place, those were Sora's memories, not his. They couldn't be his.

"You did," Naminé said simply. "You went to many words, just like Sora did." She still wasn't looking at him, eyes drifting over the golden sand beneath her knees. "But this one is the safest. For you, at least."

"Why?" he asked, because there was really nothing else he could think of through the jumbled mess of his memories.

"Because..." Naminé paused, thinking over her words as her fingers tapped against the back of her other hand. "Because there are people here that remember you, and that you remember, too, somewhere... in your heart. You just need time to remember them." She gave him an unsteady smile. "And these people are heroes. They'll help you, because that's what they do. They won't let you be taken away again."

Roxas closed his eyes, wishing it could help against the building headache. So much of this made so little sense – so why did it feel right? Why was he so sure Naminé was telling him the truth?

"Two words!" a loud voice called out from somewhere unseen, carrying easily over the stone walls. "Trust! Your! Instincts!"

Roxas jolted at the noise, instantly recognizing the voice. "That's... That's Phil, right?" he asked, looking to Naminé for confirmation. She nodded, face set in uncertain hope. "Okay, well..." Mentally, he was still reeling from everything she'd just told him, but he got the feeling sitting here talking was only going to make him more confused. So he decided to follow the advice he'd unknowingly been given; for all his gruffness, Phil had never led him – led Sora wrong. "Let's take a look around. If I've been here, he'd recognize me, right?"

Naminé hesitated when he held out a hand to help her to her feet, something fragile in her pale blue eyes. "Roxas," she said quietly, as if she wasn't sure she wanted him to hear her. "You should know, before anything else – your memories, I was – I'm the one that –"

Roxas kept his hand extended. "You're the one that gave me a chance to know what's really going on," he said, voice gentle. "Whatever else happens, I'm going to remember that, okay? That when you had a choice, you chose to help me." He held his hand a little closer to her.

Carefully, like she didn't quite believe him, she took his hand and came to her feet. "I will," she said, squeezing his hand tightly as that determination finally returned, replacing the uncertainty and fear. "I promise."

Smiling, Roxas nodded and returned the squeeze. "I know you will," he said. Despite how little he knew right now, how muddled and messy his memories felt, something in his heart was certain this was right. "Thank you, Naminé."

My head-canons are showing again. The first was when I realized that Tron's segment in KHII was freaking foreshadowing (only took, what, ten years?). Because corridors of darkness are great and all, but it seems like it'd be easier to hack into a digital world using a similar system. Like, say, the Grid Access in Hollow Bastion. Which prompted my new "DiZ can't use computers" head-canon – or at least he has no idea what "network security" is or how programming actually works. "Hacker Axel" is also a fun image, especially with all the stuff that was going on in Re:Coded. Another wild head-canon is hidden in a little throw-away line that I'd like to expand on in Left Behind when I eventually get that ball rolling. One day.