The Thirteenth Hour

Chapter 4

Traverse Town

Namixas

Roxas decided that he was definitely going to have to get used to surprises on this journey.

After walking into that black portal, he expected to find more darkness, but instead he saw a bright, spacious area. They were symbols, symbols that he couldn’t make out for they were going so quickly, all around probably bordering this area that seemed to go on forever.

He glanced over towards Naminé, wondering what she thought of this place, only to find her not looking around in shock, but actually searching for something.

“Oh yeah. She’s probably been here before…” Roxas realized, feeling foolish for not thinking of that before. He looked down, noticing that their hands were still enclosed together. It was started to feel awkward to him…

“Oh! It’s over there.” Naminé suddenly exclaimed tugging Roxas with her as walked towards… what was she walking towards?

“That’s where we need to go next.” She pointed towards what seemed like another portal, though it was different looking than the one they entered to find this place.

“How do you know?” Roxas asked curiously. He was beginning to understand that Naminé was more aware of the situation that the two were in than he had thought. She was with him now for a reason, a reason that he didn’t know yet.

“I can feel it.” She answered simply and continued to walk towards her destination. Roxas just sighed quietly and followed her. He had to since he was still connected to her by their hands.

Once they reached the point that Naminé had declared the next world they were going to, the two looked at each other for a second, smiled, and then took a step into the portal. Then like before, it was all dark before everything went white.

“Roxas!” Someone was forcing him to wake up. He had gone unconscious once again. Perhaps that was a side affect of losing ones memories…

“Wh-where are we?” Roxas asked in a dazed sort of way as he opened his eyes. This place was not as bright as Destiny Islands. No nature, no bright blue sky, no sand, no sea. Just… buildings and roads. He took a look around him and realized that he was in a dark alleyway.

“This is Traverse Town, Roxas. This is the place they people came to, when their own world was destroyed by the heartless. All the people you are about to see are all refugees.” Naminé said with a bit of a mournful tone. As Roxas was about to find out, most people had either a hateful or mournful feelings towards the heartless.

Roxas took another look around me, now that I knew where he was. Even though he had never heard of it before. But that’s to be expected when someone loses their memories. Quietly, the two walked out of the alleyway we were in and came into a large open plaza where people were everywhere.

This is the first time that Roxas saw such a great mass of people on his travels. Apparently, they were in a secluded area on Destiny Islands, or maybe there aren’t a lot of people living there in the first place.

“This place is very different from Destiny Islands. And the place where I used to live… where was that place again? I know I used to live somewhere else… Eh, oh well.” Roxas thought to himself, seeming to remember something he didn’t realize he knew.

From different signs, Roxas could see that there were many shops around. An accessory shop. An open restaurant outside. An items shop. With all the shops around, Roxas felt like doing something shopping while they were there would be a good idea. But then he realized that he didn’t have any munny on him.

“Hey, Naminé? Do you have any munny?” He asked her, because maybe when they went on their journey, Naminé left being a bit more prepared than Roxas was. Naminé just gave him a surprised look.

“You remember about currency and such? I’m surprised. I thought all of your memories were gone.” Naminé explained why she had such an expression. She was aware that Roxas had gained some of his memories, but the fact he remembered so many small things surprised her.

“I guess… The only memories that were erased were the ones that I had to do my past. Not with just my basic knowledge. The person who erased my memories must have let my basic knowledge intact.

Naminé just had a thoughtful look on her, with a bit of a frown. Roxas didn’t expect Naminé to react that way, and wanted to cheer her up.

“But hey! At least you don’t have to re-teach me every little thing now. That probably makes this journey much easier for you.” Roxas mentioned, hoping to make Naminé happier. It succeeded, a little bit.

“Yeah… thank goodness for that.” She gave a laugh, but she still appeared troubled for reasons Roxas didn’t understand. But before he was say enough else, Naminé seemed to snap out of it and finally answered Roxas’s question.

“Anyway, yes I do have munny. Are you wanting to shopping here?” She asked, ignoring the fact that she had been unhappy just moments before.

“Yeah. I was thinking it’d be a good idea, since I have no idea about what could be out there waiting for us next.” Roxas explained his reasoning to her, and Naminé nodded in agreement.

“Yeah that would be a good idea. Let’s go.” Naminé said, and the two began their shopping.

The two found the greatest luck at the items shop, getting many healing items that Roxas was sure he was going to need. The owner of the accessories shop was one cranky man… He basically scared the two out of there before they could get anything.

With their shopping done, the two decided to stay at the hotel in Traverse Town. To save on munny, they decided to go ahead and stay in the same room. Roxas decided he would just sleep on the floor.

They entered the hotel, to find a young brown haired woman behind the counter. She looked like the person in charge of the business so the two walked up to her.

“We’d like to rent a room for the night.” Naminé told her, and she immediately gave them a smile.

“One or two?” She asked, and Naminé held up her hand with one finger showing. The woman looked surprised, but went away and reached for a pair of keys.

“We’ll give you the Green Room. Please come to me if you need anything at all. My name is Aerith.” She gave the two a kindly smile, and they could tell that she really was a kind person. Taking the keys, Roxas and Naminé said good bye and went to their room.

It really was a green room.

“So… Now that we know where we are going to stay for the night. What’s the plan?” Roxas asked his blonde companion.

“I don’t really know… I know, I agreed to go on this journey with you. But I don’t know exactly what we should be looking for. I just figured another member of Organization XIII would be appear.” Naminé explained.

“I’ve been meaning to ask. What’s this Organization XIII?”

“Well, you already know about heartless. But do you know about nobodies?” Naminé asked so that she would know where to start explaining at.

Roxas didn’t really know what nobodies were. Whenever he tried to think about it, something blocked the information in his mind. He figured that was what happened when one’s memory has been erased. He shook his head no, to inform Naminé that he didn’t know about them.

“They are very similar to the heartless, in the way they are created when a person loses their heart and nobodies don’t hearts themselves. But they are able to think, and plan, and plot unlike the heartless.”

Naminé took another deep breath and looked at Roxas square before telling him the next part.

“There is a group of powerful nobodies that are able to control other nobodies and they call themselves Organization XIII. And currently, their main mission to capture you.” Naminé explained to Roxas.

“But, why?” Roxas asked, feeling sort of afraid of the fact they were looking for him, to hurt him. Sure, he could defend himself pretty well as he has shown before. But, he also felt that they was a good chance that they probably are stronger people than him.

“I can’t tell you for sure. All I know is that you took something precious away from them.” Naminé said with a deep sigh. Talking about this was making her unhappy and Roxas decided to not bring it up for a while because of that reason.

Before either of them could say anything else, they heard a knock on the door.

“Come in!” Naminé shouted, and the door opened to reveal Aerith behind it. She had a pile of blankets and pillows in her arms.

“I thought you might be needing this tonight.” She explained, and Naminé took the items from her hands gratefully. It was until then that the two realized that it was getting late now. Outside the window, it was growing darker by the second.

The two needed plenty of sleep for their journey was sure to take all of their energy they had. Roxas took the blankets from Naminé and made a pallet for himself on the floor. Aerith smiled at the gesture he made for Naminé. What a gentleman…

For some reason, she kept staring at Roxas. Feeling like she was seeing something that her heart had known before. It wasn’t long before Roxas realized this and began to feel uneasy. Aerith didn’t want to cause unease, and explained herself quickly.

“Oh, sorry… You look like someone I used to know…” She muttered before turning away from the Green Room and going back to her counter. Roxas shrugged off what happened and finished making his pallet.

Without changing or anything, Roxas just laid down and almost immediately fell asleep. Naminé watched him for a while, with a look of pity on her face.

“I’m sorry Roxas…” She muttered, and got into bed herself and turned out the light.