Onto ze next chapterz! Not much to report other than an update for my Riku fic and at least 1 new video on the commentary channel.

Disclaimer: This boring disclaimer serves to remind all who are reading this that I don't own shit.

Strange. No dreams of Sora, but I think this is another dream about that girl, the one with black hair and blue eyes like mine. It's my perspective, as usual, and we're sitting on top of the tower at Central Station. All three of us.

Axel is with us.

We're all just sitting at the top of the tower eating ice cream.

"You wanna talk about what happened?" my voice asks, facing towards the girl. She says nothing.

"We're here for you," Axel adds, "if you want to get it off your chest. Right, Roxas?"

"Yeah," I hear myself reply. "That's what friends are for."

Friends? I was friends with Axel? And with the girl?

"I can't..." she begins sadly. "I can't use the Keyblade anymore."

My vision turns to look at Axel. He looks as surprised as I feel. That's right, though: I already knew she could use the Keyblade because I fought her two days ago.

"And without it," she continues, "I can't do my job."

What kind of job would require the Keyblade?

"What happened?" my voice asks, but my vision fades out.

I'm falling. Falling through darkness. There's no one here. I could look out and see nothing but darkness that just goes on forever. So why is it that nothingness terrifies me but looking at the endless darkness like this doesn't bother me? Maybe I'm just weird like that.

My body jumps, pulling myself up from the bed. Adrenaline rushes through my body for a few seconds until I calm down. "I'm dreaming," I convince myself. "But the station tower... I remember falling off. Was that... part of the dream?"

I can barely pay attention to anything. I'm surprised when I look down and find myself dressed; I must have really been spacing out. Before I know it, I'm at the Usual Spot, but my mind keeps wandering. I'm brought back down to earth when Olette walks over to me, though.

"Only three days left of summer vacation," Hayner complains, "so don't even mention that assignment!" Well that explains why Olette looks so upset.

"But we agreed we'd get it finished today," she counters.

My mind is still bugging me. "Yesterday," I begin, "I fell off the tower, right?"

"You wouldn't be here if you did!" Hayner replies. Well that makes sense, I suppose.

"Stop changing the subject!" Olette demands.

"Okay, you win," Hayner concedes. "We'll do the homework. Stupid independent study." Hayner pushes himself up from his usual seat. "So, anyway got any bright ideas for a topic?"

This could be a good chance. "Maybe we could study the stuff that's happening to me," I suggest. "You know, the dreams... and the creatures in white." And the girl with jet-black hair and blue eyes just like mine.

"Forget it," Hayner deadpans.

"Why?" I ask, surprised by the quick refusal.

"You know," Hayner begins, softer this time, "things have been weird with you and the town since the photos were stolen, right?" I guess that is when all this craziness began.

"Well, tomorrow," Pence explains, "We're all gonna search the town and find out what's been goin' on."

"Lots of people are helping out," Olette adds with a smile.

"All that for me?" I whisper.

I'm such an idiot sometimes. I'm so worried about these dreams and everything going on that my friends and everyone in town is concerned. What do I need worry about from dreams when my friends are right here?

"I'll go get some ice cream!" I announce and leave. I run out into Market Street and pay for four bars of sea-salt ice cream and hurry back.

Pence starts talking while we're all eating about a bunch of weird stuff going on in town, especially at Sunset Terrace, known as the "Seven Wonders of Twilight Town." That's where the town line at the train station goes; it's free for students.

"We should investigate those for our school project!" Hayner suggests. "Pence, you're a genius!"

"There might be other rumors going around, too," Pence adds. "Let's split up. I'm gonna look for the seven wonders."

"Olette and I will go find some new rumors!" Hayner says. "C'mon!"

"That leaves you and me, Roxas," Pence says when Hayner and Olette are gone. "Let's try the train first. To the station!"

I nod and we leave, heading for Central Station. It's a short walk up to the station, and Hayner and Olette are following us by the time we get there.

"Whoa. Find new rumors already?" Pence asks.

"Nothing on Market Street," Olette replies.

"You twerps aren't gonna scoop us," Hayner declares. "We're going to the terrace with you."

Olette smacks him on the head. "Hayner, it's not a race," she scolds.

"Well it is now!"

"C'mon," I say, "we can all go."

We all board the train and sit down. It's real quiet; no one else is riding with us. Olette decides to pull out her yellow crystal, one of the crystals I gave everyone yesterday. Hayner and Pence hold theirs up, too. I reach into my pocket to...

No!

Where could it be? I know I grabbed it with my wallet today! It was our special treasure that we share together; what could have happened to it?

The others don't seem to notice my dilemma, but that suits me just fine. I'd rather they not know that I lost my crystal the day after we promised that it would be our treasure. They'd kill me.

The train stops with a small lurch forward, bringing me back into reality.

"Olette, hurry!" Hayner calls. He and Olette run out onto the station platform and out into the main area of Sunset Terrace while Pence and I stop at the steps.

"Aren't these the steps you were talking about?" I ask. "The ones that count different going up and down?"

Pence looks uncomfortable. "Well, actually..." he mumbles. "It's the stupidest thing ever, but... Rai's the one who counted. He was like 'Every time I count, it's different, Y'KNOW?' Ha ha ha!" Pence really didn't need to put the extra emphasis on Rai's catch phrase, but I get the point.

"So he just counted wrong?" I ask, slightly disappointed.

"Hey, no worries," he tries to console me.

Pence points me to where the second "wonder" is supposed to be: an alleyway with mysterious rubber balls coming from it. It turns out that there was a kid in the alleyway throwing the balls around while he played, so that's definitely on the "fake wonder" list.

The next one, according to Pence, is in the tunnel that connects Sunset Terrace with the main part of Twilight Town. Supposedly, people can hear a lot of strange noises coming from the tunnel, but when I check it just turns out to be Vivi practicing with a Struggle sword.

The next wonder is at the waterfall mirror near the entrance to Sunset Hill. There's supposed to be a ghost that people see when they look at the waterfall, but it just turns out to be a reflection in the mirror behind the water. It was kinda spooky, though.

The next one is at the top of Sunset Hill: a bag that moves on its own. When I get up to the hill, it attacks me. After a while I manage to loosen the string holding the back closed and a dog jumps out. So that explains why it was moving.

I dust myself off and I head back down into the main Terrace to talk with Pence. This "wonder" business has gotten me roughed up a bit, and I'm starting to think it was a bad idea to choose this for out project.

"I hope the next wonder is better than the last one, because that one wasn't all that wonderful," I tell Pence once I find him.

"We got another lead!" Hayner calls as he and Olette run up to us.

"'The Ghost Train Mystery!'" Olette announces.

"Everybody knows about Wonder Number Six!" Pence says.

"Yeah, well I didn't," Hayner replies.

"Did you find out where the train runs?" I ask.

"You can see it from Sunset Hill," Olette answers.

Oh yay, we get to walk all the way back up the hill. I was just there three minutes ago; couldn't you all have just come up to me? Okay, forget it. I shouldn't be upset about it.

When we all get up to the hill, we look over the fencing at the tracks below. Nothing there, but Pence starts talking.

"If the rumors are true, it'll be here any minute," he says, "for they say the train is empty. No driver, no conductor, no passengers, NO RETURN."

Could we get a more cliché ghost story please?

So we've been waiting for who-knows-how-long and the stupid train isn't here yet. We all decided to sit down near the fence so we could watch the tracks in case it shows up.

"We've gotta make it to the beach next year," Olette suggests.

"Yeah," Hayner replies. "We better get jobs the second vacation starts."

I start to say something, but Seifer shows up.

"Good afternoon, slackers," he drawls. I turn to look at him. "What are you doing out here?"

"What do you care?" Hayner asked calmly.

"I don't," Seifer replies. "Tell me anyway."

"We're waiting for the ghost train," Pence explains.

Seifer laughs. "Waiting for the ghost train!" he repeats. He keeps laughing, but I've had enough. I get up and move right in front of him. We stare each other down for a moment before Seifer says, "Why does lookin' at you always tick me off?"

I smirk. "I dunno. Maybe it's destiny."

"Destiny..." Seifer echoes. "In that case, let's be friends." He turns to look at the sun, setting on the horizon far in the distance. "I don't feel like cooperating with destiny."

"When have you ever cooperated with anything?" Hayner jokes.

Seifer laughs, pats his fist against his chest in what I can only describe as an incredibly embarrassing gang-related farewell, and starts heading down the hill.

Olette calls after him, "Seifer!"

"I know," he replies. I look down at the train tracks. "Tomorrow."

"Look!" I yell.

A train is coming into the station. It's blue, purple, and gold, covered with stars and has a wizard's hat on top. The train goes through the tunnel below us and I turn around to the gang.

"It's really true..." I whisper. "And there's really no one aboard!" The others look uncomfortable. "What's the catch? There's gotta be a catch, right?"

Hayner, Pence, and Olette share a glance that tells me something is off. "Then it's real?" I continue. "Let's go to the station!"

We all run to the station. The blue-purple-gold train is there when we arrive as if waiting for passengers to board. "Let's go in," I declare. When I begin to walk forward, Hayner grabs my arm to stop me and I look back at him. "What?" I demand.

"Um," he stammers. "You'll get hurt."

I look back at the tracks and find the train gone. As if it had never been there. "Huh?"

"The train will be arriving shortly." An announcement comes over the intercom. A normal train car pulls into the station. I don't even pay attention to the people exiting the train.

"C'mon," Hayner demands.

"A train came from the beach, right?" I ask.

"Let's go..." Pence suggests.

I shake my head and turn to Olette. "Right?" I plead. With the saddest expression I've ever seen Olette use, she shakes her head. Hayner groans and starts pushing against my back, leading me into the normal train car.

"Let's go home and work on the paper," Hayner suggests as we exit Central Station.

"'The rumors were bogus. The end,'" Pence jokes.

"We can still make it sound good if we write about the work we did," Olette explains.

"But what about the last one?" I ask. "The seventh wonder?"

"Who cares?" Hayner replies angrily.

"I do," I reply. "C'mon Pence."

"Whatever!" Hayner huffs and leaves.

"Roxas," Olette mutters sadly.

"It's at the haunted mansion," Pence says with a heavy sigh. He and Olette leave to follow Hayner.

I want to check out that mansion. It's way too mysterious, and those white creatures seem drawn towards it for whatever reason.

A scene plays eerily in my head as I walk through Market Street. I can see myself, Axel, and the girl with blue eyes and black hair; we're all in front of the mansion, and we're fighting some large creature. I think it's one of the Heartless, like I've seen Sora fighting against in my dreams.

So that girl... No, we're all connected to that mansion somehow; the girl, Axel, and me too.

Before I even realize it I'm standing at the front gate of the empty building. The gate is locked, though, so there's no way in. I see a glimpse of Sora holding his Keyblade up before a voice makes me jump.

"You know something," Pence says loudly as he approaches, "We were gonna check the mansion out tomorrow. It is the most suspicious place."

"Right," I mumble.

Pence says something else, but my attention is drawn to the window on the far left. I can see the curtain moving from a small breeze but I can also see a girl.

A girl with blond hair and a white dress.

Naminé!

I turn to ask Pence something, but my consciousness leaves my body. I can see a white room; it's the room that I saw Naminé standing in. There's a long white table in the middle of the room and drawings hung all over the walls and a few in the floor.

This is weird. It's like... I'm deciding what my body is doing, but somehow I know that my body would move even if I hadn't told it to. I move over to look at one of the pictures on the wall. It shows a young girl holding a star-shaped fruit. I know this girl; it's Kairi. The one from the dreams, but how is that possible?

"Roxas..." I hear a voice. Naminé's voice.

"Naminé?" I call back. No answer.

I move on to the next drawing. I can recognize myself easily, but the man standing next to me makes me wonder. "This is Axel," I mutter. "And me."

"You are best friends," Naminé explains.

"Are you sure?" I ask, only slightly doubtful.

"Do you want to hear the truth about who you really are?" she asks.

I smile. "No one knows me better than me," I reply.

"Of course," Naminé says.

"But..." I begin. "I don't really understand what's been going on lately." I keep walking, looking up at a drawing of three figures: a duck, a dog, and a young boy.

"You know these three, don't you?"

"Yeah," I reply. "Sora, Donald, and Goofy. I've seen them in my dreams."

"About a year ago," Naminé began, "some things happened, and I had to take apart the memories chained together in Sora's heart. But now I'm putting them all back exactly the way they were. It's taken me a long time, but pretty soon Sora will be his old self again." There is a pause. "The process has been affecting you, too, Roxas."

"The dreams?" I guess.

"Yes," she answers. "You and Sora are connected. And... in order for Sora to become completely whole again... he needs you." I see a drawing of myself, holding Sora's hand.

"Why does he need me?" I ask calmly.

"You hold half of what he is," Naminé answers.

"Naminé?" I call. A bright light fills my vision and I find myself seated at the long table across from Naminé. "Naminé... who are you?"

Naminé explains that she is a witch who can control Sora's memory... and the memory of those connected to him. I ask her what she knows about me that I don't and her answer shocks me.

"You..." she begins, "you were never supposed to exist, Roxas."

I shake my head and stare at the table. "How could you say that?" I ask. "It doesn't matter if that's true or not."

"I'm sorry," she says honestly. "I guess some things really are better left unsaid."

I look back up and our eyes meet. Blue, just like the black-haired girl.

"Do you know who the black-haired girl is?" I ask.

Naminé seems greatly surprised. "How-" She shakes her head. "She is also connected to Sora." Her eyes soften considerably. "And to you."

My vision fades to white again and I find myself standing next to Pence outside the gate.

"Roxas!" he calls multiple times.

"Huh?" I jump, finally breaking my attention from the mansion's window.

"Did you see her?" he asks. "The girl in the window?"

"Yeah," I reply and decide not to go into the full conversation I just had with the girl. "Watch the window," I explain, "closely."

I point up at the corner of the window where Naminé had been standing before, but she's gone now. The curtain continues to wave in the breeze.

"Oh, lame," Pence groans. "That's just the curtains moving. There must be a draft somewhere."

When I look back at the window, Naminé is standing there again. Even at this distance, I can tell she is looking directly at me with sorrowful eyes. "...Yeah."

"Well, let's head back to the usual spot," Pence suggests. "Hayner and Olette are waiting."

I nod and we leave. I glance back at the window, but no one is there. When I look at the far right window, though, I can see a girl with jet-black hair and blues eyes just like mine.

"Hey guys, how'd it go?" Olette asks as we make it back to the usual spot.

"The girl in the window turned out to be a curtain flapping in the wind," Pence explains with a defeated sigh.

"I figured as much," Olette says. "The report's already done."

"All right!" Pence explaims.

I stay quiet. I know what I saw at the mansion, but I'm pretty sure no one else would believe it. Just like the pickpocket or the train.

"So, wanna go find Hayner?" Olette asks. "He's probably at the station."

I look up at her.

"You know... we only have two more days together."

"Huh?" I reply, confused.

"Summer vacation, remember?" she laughs.

"Oh... right."

Sure enough, when we reach the top of the station tower, Hayner is already there eating ice cream. We all sit down and start eating ice cream bars of our own.

"Tomorrow we search the town," Hayner says.

"Next day's the fair," Pence continues.

"The last day of summer," Olette adds.

"Don't say that!" Hayner complains. "You'll give me an ulcer!"

"Not if you explode from all that ice cream first," Pence jokes. Hayner jumps away from the ice cream he was about to bite and everyone else starts laughing. I can hear bells ringing in the distance.

My vision fades into static interference.

A/N: End of zeh chapter! I apologize greatly for the boring chapter. I tried to not copy as much as possible, but that's difficult for this kind of thing. Next chapter will be the last one, and may be fairly long considering there will be at least 1 fight scene and quite a lot of story exposition and explaining to do.