Roxas stepped through the dark corridor into the back alleys of Twilight Town. Taking a moment to look at his surroundings, he recognized where he was: At the the top of the steps leading down to the sandlot. He took the steps down, his silent companion close behind him. As they entered the sandlot, shadows materialized behind them, blocking their path backwards.

Their targets appeared: Around a dozen of the Deserter Heartless. Readying his keyblade, Roxas charged forward, his ally providing support with fire magic, covering his back. The fight was short lived, and Roxas decided to look around a few of the other areas before returning to the sandlot.

Heading up the stairs into the back alley again, he found that one of the Deserter Heartless had lived up to its name. Roxas pulled out his keyblade and struck it in the back, causing it disappear. Dismissing his Keyblade, he turned around to his companion and said, "I've got someplace to be again today, so go on without me."

He started to walk past her, intending to go to Market Street for an ice cream before going to the Clock Tower. The girl who'd been with him hadn't said a single word since she'd joined the Organization, so he wasn't expecting a response.

"R...Roxas…"

"Hm?" He turned around to look at his companion.

She turned around. "Your name… It's… Roxas, isn't it?." She asked, her voice even and monotone.

The shock of her speaking wore off quickly, and he nodded. "Yeah, ****. That's right." He was about to smile, but she turned around without another word and vanished into the dark corridor. After the portal vanished, he got an ice cream and went up to the clock tower. Yesterday, he'd waited for Axel, but today there was something else on his mind.

"My name… was that the first thing **** ever said?"

Roxas awoke, letting out a groan as he forced his tired body to sit up. He blinked a couple of times, then raised a hand to his head and ran his fingers through his hair. He sighed, putting his hand on his knee. "Another dream about her…"

Bells could be heard ringing throughout Twilight Town, and Roxas opened his window, letting in some fresh air as he gazed out over the town. After a few minutes, he got up and started getting ready to go meet his friends in the Usual Spot.

~The First Day~

Heading through Tram Common and up Market Street, Roxas found the alleyway to his destination. He could hear that Hayner, Pence, and Olette were already there and talking about something (Hayner was particularly upset), but before he walked through the metal gate he stopped and looked down the alleyway. Just a little further down was where his last dream had ended.

He frowned, looking down at the ground. There was no one there now, obviously, but he couldn't shake the… the sadness he felt thinking about the dream. Walking into the Usual Spot and taking a seat beside Olette on the old sofa they'd found a while back and waving to Pence (Hayner was still going off about whatever was making him upset), he quickly tuned out, the contents of his dream coming back to him.

The girl… he couldn't remember her name. He knew he'd said it in the dream, but trying to remember it now was exceedingly tough. Dreams were never easy to remember, and normally he'd dismiss it outright, but he felt like he knew the girl, despite the fact that she'd said next to nothing in the dream. And if he knew her, shouldn't he know her name? He'd said it in his dream, he was sure of it, but trying to recall it was a fruitless endeavour.

Strange; he'd been able to recall a battle with a bunch of creatures whilst wielding a strange keyblade-sword, but he couldn't recall a simple name.

"Man, doesn't that tick you off?" Hayner asked.

"Yeah, that's just wrong!" Pence said.

"Seifer's gone too far this time!" Olette followed up.

The three looked over at Roxas, who was still lost in his own thoughts. "I know she said my name… and I did say her name back… ah, but what was it?!" When he noticed the sudden silence, Roxas looked up at the others, nodding at their expectant gazes. He didn't want to give away the fact that he hadn't been listening.

Hayner sighed and stood up. "I mean, it's true that stuff's been stolen around town. And we've got a score to settle with Seifer and everything. So if he wants to think we did it, I can't really blame him. See… that's not what really bugs me. What REALLY bugs me is that he's going around telling everybody we're the thieves!"

"Now the whole town and their mothers are treating us like the Klepto Club!" Hayner continued, then turned to Roxas who looked up, slightly startled. "Have you ever been this ticked off in your life? Because I haven't! Nuh-uh! Never!" Hayner exhaled after his rant, punching his hand to his palm. "Now… what to do?"

It went quiet for a moment. Olette wasn't sure of how they could prove they weren't the thieves, Pence wasn't sure how'd they approach Seifer, and Hayner just wanted to find Seifer and throttle him for lying to the town.

Olette looked at Roxas. When he noticed her gaze, he quickly said, "Uh, well… We could find the real thieves. That would set the record straight."

Pence stood up. "Hey, that sounds fun!" He walked over to get the camera, intending on making sure their victory would be forever recorded.

"What about Seifer?" Hayner asked him as he walked past.

"First, we gotta clear our names." Roxas said. "Once we find the real culprit, everyone will get off our backs."

Hayner grunted. "Everyone wouldn't be on our backs in the first place if Seifer hadn't put the blame on us…" He thought to himself, crossing his arms over his chest.

"Oh no!" Everyone turned to look at Pence, who was holding the camera. "They're gone! Our *****are gone!" He blinked in confusion, putting a hand to his throat.

"All our ******, gone?!" Hayner asked, only to put his hands to his throat, similar to Pence.

"You can't say ******? Why not?" Olette asked.

"Who's stealing words!?" Roxas asked himself. "First that girl's name, then the word *****, too." He rolled his eyes when he realized he couldn't think the word, either.

"But you do understand what I'm saying, right? Our ****** are gone!" Pence asked Hayner and Olette.

Roxas stood up. "Stolen… and not just the ******. The word *****. They stole it, too!"

"What kinda thief is that?" Hayner asked incredulously. "Seifer could never have pulled that off."

"Yeah!"

"Alright, time for some recon!" Hayner said. He, Pence, and Olette, started for the alleyway and Roxas moved to follow them.

But as he turned around, the world started spinning, and he lost his balance. He fell to the floor, his vision fading to black.

~The First Day~

"Roxas, that's a stick." She looked like she was stuck between wanting to laugh and wanting to smack him for being stupid.

~The First Day~

Roxas woke up a minute later, unsure what had happened. Had he just turned too hard and gotten dizzy? Maybe, but for some reason that didn't seem at all likely. He stood and brushed himself off, standing still for a moment to make sure he wouldn't fall again.

Olette walked up to him, apparently being the only one to notice that he wasn't with the group. "Roxas, c'mon!" She scolded playfully, turning on her heel and leaving to find Pence and Hayner after getting a nod from Roxas.

~The First Day~

After talking to various shop owners around Market Street and Tram Common, Olette hesitantly suggested that they ask Seifer what he knew. They headed to the sandlot, which was his usual hangout spot (and totally not the spot where their two gangs fought the most).

"Thieves!" Fuu said when saw them.

"That was low, y'know?" Rai said.

"Oh yeah?" Hayner mocked, getting a glare from Rai and Fuu.

"Nice comeback there, blondie."

They all turned to see Seifer walking up to them, coming from the Market Street entrance.

"What'd you say?" Hayner asked, and Roxas and Pence could hear him growling in anger already.

"You can give us back the ***** now."

"Yeah, you're the only ones who would take it, y'know?" Rai butted in, but Seifer ignored him.

"That was undeniable proof that we totally owned you lamers. So what did you do? Burn it? Hah, not that we need some ***** to prove that you're losers!"

"Replay!" Fuu exclaimed.

Seifer laughed. "Now you're talking!" They all took a fighting stance - but Roxas only weakly raised his fist, rolling his eyes as he did so. Seifer must've noticed, because he said, "Maybe if you get on your knees and beg, MAYBE I'll let it slide."

The only reason Roxas lowered his hand and walked forward was because his mind was once again on the dream he'd had last night.

These dreams had been happening for a few weeks now. He couldn't remember all of them, nor all the details; a castle, a room with some sofas, a round room, a man who ate ice cream with him… but the one thing he was sure of was that the girl was in all of his dreams. Never saying anything, never doing anything, but always there.

And a result of her constant, silent presence in his dreams made him curious about her. Last nights dream was the first time he'd heard the girl talk - and the strange thing was, was that he wanted to talk back. It felt… like an instinct, almost.

"Roxas!"

Hayner's shout snapped him out of his thoughts. He blinked, and realized that a few struggle baton's had been dumped on the ground in front of him. It must not have been enough for Seifer to humiliate him peacefully, he had to fight him so he could show off his strength, too.

Grabbing one of the batons, Roxas readied himself for a fight.

~The First Day~

Seifer fell to one knee, the baton falling from his hand. He'd been defeated.

"S-Seifer's not feeling so hot, you know?"

"Tournament decides!"

His lackey's came to defend him, and Roxas rolled his eyes. He turned around to see Pence holding up the camera. Roxas frowned and narrowed his gaze, momentarily confused as to why Pence was taking his *******. Just as it dawned on him that he should probably smirk or give a thumbs down, he heard the click! and Pence gave him a thumbs up.

Only to have something grey, skinny, and very fast circle Pence, snatch the camera out of his hands, and then head up to the Tram Common.

"Woah!" Pence blinked, looking at the empty space where his camera was.

They all turned to see the person… well, not run away, more like float away.

"Uh, what was that?" Hayner asked out loud.

"The thief?" Olette offered as a response.

It clicked with everybody at the same time, and they all started after the person.

~The First Day~

Roxas ran through the Tram Common, though the hole in the wall and through the woods, never losing track of the guy who'd stolen Pence's camera. The thief eventually took the path to the old abandoned mansion, coming to a stop just in front of the gates. Roxas held up his baton and was about to order the thief to give back the camera, but something strange happened.

"We have come for you, my liege."

The voice… it definitely came from the thief, there were no other people around. But the voice didn't sound like it had been spoken out loud, it sounded like it had been projected into Roxas's head. Kind of like hearing a voice on a windy day.

"What?" Roxas muttered, taking a step back. The thief's hood unzipped, and though he tried, Roxas couldn't clearly see what was beneath it. His instincts took over when the thief let out a terrifying roar, and Roxas readied his baton.

Running forward and swinging first, Roxas was shocked to see the baton phase through the thief like he was made out of thin air. He swung a few more times, but the same thing happened. The thief fell to the ground, then curled into a circle and swing its legs at Roxas. He grunted in pain as he was whipped across the chest, backstepping and slashing with his baton, which fazed through the thief's head.

"Ah, it's no use…" Roxas mumbled to himself. Then another strange thing happened.

A noise came from the baton. Since he knew that the struggle batons didn't make noises, he looked down and saw that it was glowing. He raised the baton, watching as numbers appeared around it and it started glowing white.

Then, the keyblade from his dream appeared in his hand, right where the baton had been.

"Wha- woah!" The keyblade gained a mind of its own, leveling itself to point at the thief. Roxas looked at his new weapon, then up at the thief. "If this thing works like it did in my dream…" Not bothering to think about why the keyblade was there in the first place, he readied himself for round two.

The thief floated into the air and started whipping its arms around, and Roxas rolled away in response. He turned to see the thief descending, twisting his body in weird ways to face Roxas. Seeing his chance, Roxas quickly rushed in, unable to suppress the grin when he felt the solid blow land.

It wasn't much longer before the thief seemingly vanished, dropping some munny, the camera, and a bunch of photos on the ground in front of the gate. The keyblade vanished, and Roxas sighed, wondering what had just happened. Picking up the munny first (school supplies are expensive), Roxas gathered up the photos and picked up the camera, then headed back to the Usual Spot, grumbling about how his friends could've helped him out in the fight.

~The First Day~

Back at the Usual Spot, Pence asked, "Hey, how'd chasing the thief go?"

Roxas held up the camera and the photos in response, grinning widely.

"Awesome!" Hayner said. "C'mon, what are they of?"

Roxas set the camera down and hand the photos over. Hayner turned the photos right side up… then frowned. "What's this?" He asked.

Roxas looked over to see what the photo was of. "I was his first customer after he took over the shop." He explained once he recognized the picture was of him and the armour store owner. "So we took a picture together."

"It's a really nice photo!" Olette smiled brightly, then looked shocked, placing a hand over her heart.

"Hey, you just said photo!" Pence pointed out. They were all glad that word had been returned to their… to their… language.

"So Roxas, tell us about the picture thief." Hayner said. Pence and Olette looked at him expectantly.

Roxas hesitated a bit. A keyblade appearing in his hands would sound outlandish at best, but the thief disappearing into thin air would be a bit harder to explain realistically. "Not much to say. The pictures were just lying there." He said, hoping the others would believe him.

"Then how do we prove we weren't the ones who took them?" Hayner asked. Roxas laughed nervously, and Hayner rolled his eyes dismissively. He moved to a new picture, then chuckled. "It's a GIRL…"

"You look happy Roxas." Olette teased.

"Do not." He quickly countered.

"So, like, anybody else notice that all the stolen pictures are of Roxas?" Pence asked.

"Oh… that must be why everyone thought it was us." Olette muttered.

"You mean Seifer didn't go around accusing us after all?" Seifer asked. "I really wanted to hold this one over his head…"

"Are they really all of me?" Roxas asked.

Pence nodded. He held up several different pictures.

"See?" Hayner asked.

"Look." Olette said.

"Right? Every single one!" Pence said as he held up the last of the recovered photos. "Wouldn't it be weird if the thief wanted to steal the real Roxas or something?"

"C'mon, get serious. Who'd want to steal a bonehead like Roxas?" Hayner asked in all seriousness.

"Oh thanks!" Roxas said sarcastically.

They all laughed with one another, but the bells rang again, signalling the start of curfew.

Hayner, Pence, and Olette said they were going to head home, but Roxas said he was going to return the pictures before he headed home too. They said their goodbyes and parted ways. Roxas gathered up the pictures and stacked them neatly on top of each other, then walked out into the alleyway.

The sun momentarily blinded him, and he raised a hand to shield his eyes. Yet another strange thing happened.

The world faded to black, but this time Roxas didn't lose his balance or pass out.

"Where am I?" Roxas asked aloud.

"Hm? Who's there?" A girl's voice could be heard, but Roxas couldn't determine its origin, only that it sounded vaguely familiar.

"Who are you?" He asked in response. Before the girl could answer, the darkness around him shimmered, and he lost consciousness.

Restoration at 12%

In the white room of the mansion, Namine looked down at the sketchbook she kept hidden in plain sight by pretending it hadn't been used yet.

On the first page was a picture of Roxas in the sandlot, talking a girl in a hooded cloak.