I preordered KH3 over three years ago. It's arriving next week.

Also, yes I know I have an Artemis Fowl and a Danganronpa fic in the works. This one is already just about done, and should only be 5-6 chapters in total, as Sora finally kicks out all the people that don't belong in his heart anymore. Once this is finished (possibly sooner) I'll be back on my other works, alternating between them. I didn't abandon them! I just wanted to actually finish something for once in a long while, so a miniseries was the ticket.

All I will say is I'm blind, and desperately seeking a beta reader for this if you're so inclined.

Sora watched Lea mumble something to himself in the mirror. He missed most of it, catching the tail end of a "thanks, a-hole".

"You know Master Yen Sid will have your mouth washed out if he catches that. With soap," Sora chided.

"Yada yada here to train, keep up the light whatever," Lea mock intoned. "Look, I get it. But two things. A- I'm older than you by enough a margin and b- what does using or not using profanity matter?"

"We're supposed to be ambassadors to other worlds. Not make waves."

"Goody two-shoes," Lea muttered under his breath, mussing his own fiery mop of hair.

"Look, despite what everyone thinks I'm not totally naïve," Sora replied sighing.

"I know," Lea replied, turning to muss Sora's hair in turn. "You've been waging war against the darkness since you were like… freaking twelve. You didn't get a childhood. You lost how many years to a coma to just go back out and keep fighting? Damn, I certainly don't have that kind of courage."

"I keep my cursing behind a locked door in my room," Sora replied, shrugging Lea's arm off his hair and around his back without much thought.

"Forget how strong you are, kid," Lea muttered, shaking out his arm.

"I don't think I qualify as kid any more."

"When you're older than me, then I'll stop saying it." Lea's smile brightened.

"The only way for that to happen is time travel or…" Sora didn't finish his sentence, he just face palmed and sighed a little. "Riku may be the only Keyblade master here but I do still have a few years experience on you, come on, let's get your training started."

"Kairi?" Lea asked, following Sora out of Yen Sid's tower, the musty castle now a base of operations for the four of them as they prepped themselves for the upcoming battle with Xenahort and crew, overseen by Yen Sid himself.

"Magic today, and while I canteach her some, that's really Donald's thing. He got a week leave from Mickey's castle guard to come and give her a hand. Arrived this morning."

Lea nodded.

"Do you want to do that instead?" Sora asked.

"Nah, I think of the four of us I've got the best grip on magic anyway," Lea replied, crackling fire off his fingertips without even yelling the Firaga cant aloud. He whipped both his arms to his sides and the flames radiated off his arms from the elbows down. Sora side-dodged the heat and observed in awe as Lea casually walked down the final staircase, literally on fire like it was a normal Tuesday.

Sora briefly wondered how the young man's jeans or watch weren't ablaze.

Out in the training yard, Lea and Sora could hear Yen Sid and Riku sparring in the makeshift arena area on the far side of the bushes. Riku had been named a Master, sure, but that didn't mean he couldn't still practice. From the sounds of it, Yen Sid wasn't fighting so much as animating various objects to do his bidding.

He could hear Riku moaning about a ten foot toaster casting Firaga and Thundaga at him.

Sora gulped a little. "Lea, keyblade only today, thanks."

"That bites," Lea replied, flicking his arms and completely dismissing the fire. Sora, meanwhile, flicked his wrist, materializing Oathkeeper, relaxingly twirling it in his fingertips.

"Standard tap out mercy rules," Sora said. "You're inconsistent. I need to make sure you can call your key to you on command."

Lea flicked his own fingers, but his own blade wouldn't answer his beck and call.

"This really bites. A day out for nothing."

He flicked his fingers again, and a third time, then sighed and changed the shape of his hands.

He flicked his whole hand this time, both hands. And it wasn't his jet-black and red keyblade that materialized, but Axel's pair of chakram.

"Figures," Lea muttered, letting the weapons disappear back into the aether and flopping on the grass. "I can't summon a keyblade."

"You just did. Yesterday. This is what I mean about consistent." Sora flopped down next to Lea on the grass. "Let's just meditate. It doesn't do much for me, I can't remember the last time I reached out and my key wasn't there, but it helps Kairi when she's having trouble calling for hers."

"Appreciate the offer, kid, really. Don't think it's possible for me."

Sora shot up, panting and shaking his head wildly as if to douse a fog. "You haven't called me by name at all today," he said with a realization that meant he knew there was more to it than just that. He gulped, seemingly afraid of the accusation he was about to make. "So, where's Lea… Axel?"

Lea- no, Axel- sat up casually, propping himself up by an arm and using the free one to make a finger gun to his temple. "In here. I'm driving today. He wanted to take a nice, long, sleep, so, wish granted."

Axel took a moment, almost blanched, and verbally backpedaled. "I mean he literally wanted a nap after yesterday's training. I didn't take over or kill him. Keyblade is his, not mine, so..." Axel stopped mid thought.

Sora doubled over in what looked like pain, before he let out a weird muffled noise followed by full on laughter.

"Jeez, careful, you scared me, kid. I can wake Lea if you want proof," Axel added, nervously putting a hand on Sora's shoulder.

"No, no, it's just… I've been telling mine for ages that they can come out if they want. Can't imagine what it's like to be cooped up with me with no body. Lonely. I figured I was the only one like this. I talked to Kairi about it, and since Namine wanted to return to her, she doesn't have two hearts in her. Just one weird overlapping set of memories."

"I spoke to her about it too," Axel replied softly. "Both of us did. Guess since we're a pair of literal hotheads I didn't exactly go quietly into the good night. So I'm still in here," Axel said, jabbing Lea's heart. "And you're right. It bites. A Nobody in a body of someone with a heart is kind of… disorienting. But I'll take it over the alternative."

"So the days Lea couldn't summon his Keyblade were… your days?"

Axel snorted. "Nah. He just still sucks. I usually just take an evening here and there. I don't want to screw with training. But yesterday wiped him. So rather than calling out sick, he bugged me."

Sora just nodded. "I wish they'd trust me more, I keep offering."

"You know, if you called Roxas by name, that would be a start," Axel admonished. "Or did you not have it memorized?" he added with a smirk, flopping back on the grass, effortlessly producing and dismissing his chakram.

"I'm using they because it's not just Roxas in here," Sora replied lightly, flopping alongside his former frenemy.

It was Axel's turn to shoot up. "What?" he asked loudly and flatly.

"Yeah, what?"

Both boys craned their heads far back to see Riku's face, upside down in view, peeking over the hedge.

Axel had never seen anyone as guilty looking in his life as Sora did over lunch. The four of them, Riku, Kairi, Sora, and Lea-cum-Axel sat at Yen Sid's dining table with the master magician himself at the head, their guest Donald at the other end, shifting in a booster seat, worriedly looking at Sora like a mother hen.

"So, Roxas is inside of you?" Yen Sid asked. It wasn't accusatory, but Sora definitely seemed to respond as such.

"And… a few others."

"A few others?" Donald cried out. "Just how many is a few others?"

"Total? Including me?"

Donald glared harder.

"Six. At least that I know of."

Axel did a spit take, but, oddly, nobody else seemed that surprised.

Sora looked around the table, judging reactions.

"So why is the only other person here who also deals with this regularly the only one surprised?" he finally asked.

"Because I know you're crazy," Donald replied simply. "And sometimes way too nice for your own good."

"You already talked with me," Kairi replied with a smile. "And, as I was at one point also Namine, I do know what happened. I just didn't know how many."

Riku shrugged. "I've already met three of them, when diving through your dreams," he supplied. "Having two more beyond that isn't that weird."

"I can tell apart Lea and Axel with a glance," Yen Sid said sharply, glaring at the redhead.

Axel was suddenly far more interested with his plate than meeting Lea's master's gaze.

"Since I've seen no evidence of any personality but you, I assumed you were like Kairi," Yen Sid continued. "The Nobody born from you returning and settling completely. But six means…?"

"Roxas and I make two. I also still have pieces of Kairi's and Riku's hearts. It's just echoes but…"

Yen Sid looked at Sora sternly. "That's not a good solution, long term. If you think you can handle it, we should have those extracted and returned to their rightful owners." He nodded at Kairi and Riku. "They are both Keyblade wielders themselves, so that should be easy. Is your old Heartless the fifth?"

Sora shook his head no. "My heartless was just a mindless shadow," he said, motioning with his hands the approximate size and shape. "I don't consider it a person to itself. The other two are whole people. A… manufactured person… named Xion, and a normal human named Ventus, well as normal as a Keyblade wielder can be, I guess."

Yen Sid dropped his fork.

"That's where his heart ended up," he said, actually wide eyed. Finally, something surprised the old man.

"You know him?" the table asked in almost unison.

"A former student. We thought he was lost to the darkness. But that was ten years ago! He's taken shelter with you all this time?"

Sora just nodded, and Yen Sid sighed.

"And none of them have gone crazy?" Yen Sid asked. "Isolation is a huge issue."

"I talk to them all as much as I can. But they can't talk to each other. I've been trying to get them to come out from time to time. It would be good for them," Sora admitted. "I can't imagine being cooped up inside someone else's heart like that so I try my hardest to make the situation easier."

"See? Too nice," Donald said, beak up smugly.

"You're absolutely okay with letting one of them take over for a while?" Axel quietly asked.

"Yes," Sora said without hesitation.

"I want you to sit down in a chair in the study when you're done here. Close your eyes, cover your ears. Try and poke Roxas up. And whatever you do, don't move or flinch-at all." Axel looked at Sora, seeing if he could continue. Sora nodded lightly, accepting the command.

"I can't speak to the others you've got but I can try and coax him out at least. I won't hurt you but I will absolutely try and scare him straight. Is that okay?"

Sora considered it for only a moment. "Yes."

Axel cracked his knuckles and got up from the table. "Kairi, can I steal you for a minute?"

Sora sat, shifting uneasily in the chair. Yen Sid, Riku, and Donald stood off to the side of the study where Sora was waiting for…whatever Axel or Lea or the both of them had planned.

He could feel his heartbeat pounding in his ears.

Inside his mind, he flitted though the personalities that sat with him. The annoyance of the piece of Riku and the strong gentleness of Kairi were the easiest to reach. They weren't whole, for one, but they were also the pieces of good friends, happy to feel him reaching out to them but content to just lay dormant within him. Xion was singing, gently. It's what she did to pass the time when her consciousness was aware. Ventus was quiet. He could sleep for months at a time inside Sora, but he was a plucky sort of presence Sora had with him for literally as long as he could remember. And then, at the very bottom, was Roxas.

There was no real form or function inside the heart, but Sora considered it in more physical terms if only to make it understandable to his own mind.

So here Sora was, banging on Roxas's "door", for lack of a better term, trying to wake him up.

Ever since Sora's mastery test, Roxas had holed himself away. Sora knew he was still there, and occasionally aware, but he wasn't responding. Did he even register that Axel didn't exist anymore- or more accurately existed like Roxas himself did, holed away inside the human he'd come from?

'Up,' Sora thought.

'No,' Roxas whined back like a kid who didn't want to go to school. It was the first time he'd nudged Roxas in… months maybe? Usually he'd just speak quietly aloud in the mirror, and whoever was conscious would 'talk' back. He never directly went inside his own heart to talk to one of its occupants unless they asked for it, and that was almost always Xion.

Even describing the situation in normal terms was tough, but it was the best analogy he could manage.

'Up,' Sora said, stronger. Sora wasn't a pushover, but he wasn't exactly the demanding type either.

Before the idea of Roxas's reply could filter, Sora felt a blast of hot flame licking the area around his body.

Sora didn't flinch. He trusted not only Lea with his life, but Axel too, lack of heart be damned.

Sora heard whirring, muffled under his covered ears back in the world outside. Axel's chakram sliced a bit of Sora's hair straight off. And still, he didn't flinch.

'That's… Axel,' Roxas's consciousness whispered. 'He… didn't he die saving you?'

'He lived protecting you,' Sora replied.

So Roxas didn't know that killing a person's heartless and Nobody revived the original person whole, good as new.

'He's going to kill us!'

'No,' Sora replied, barely registering the feeling of fire around him. Time moved differently within his heart, and this whole conversation was occurring before the sliced lock of hair had even reached the ground outside. 'He's going to kill me. Wouldn't lay a hand on you."

Roxas, in so many words Sora could use to describe the metaphysical nature of his mind, cracked open his door. He was scowling, in their collective mind's eye.

'Move over,' he demanded.

And suddenly, it was Sora who was locked in a room in his own heart.

Axel spun the chakram carefully, just under Sora's chin. Between Donald and Yen Sid, (and his own self if he really needed to break character) there were enough people proficient in Curaga, but he wanted to avoid dealing actual damage in the first place.

He put a foot up on the chair Sora was sitting in, rocking it backwards forcefully but not letting it topple.

"I said FIGHT ME," he bellowed.

Sora's eyes shot open, and he gripped the seat of the chair for balance, stunned. Reflexively, he flicked his fingers, calling his Keyblade.

It wasn't the Oathkeeper from earlier.

It wasn't Sora from earlier, either.

Roxas glared and held the Kingdom Key out aggressively, pointing at Axel's neck. He had Sora's face and form, yes, but his stance wasn't Sora's at all; Sora would have held the blade crosswise, defensively, until he determined if the other person was an actual threat.

Donald gasped, but was quickly shushed by Riku.

"Ax…el?" Roxas asked, voice shaky like he hadn't spoken aloud in ages.

Which was true.

Immediately, Axel, who was wearing his old Organization clothing and even had a pair of his signature indigo teardrop triangle marks on his face, softened. With a quick flick, the fire and chakram vanished, and Axel grinned huge.

"Mornin', sleepyhead," Axel said brightly, carefully tipping the chair back to balance on its legs correctly, shifting his torso so he wouldn't be bonked by Roxas's weapon as he was lowered.

Roxas was shocked, not even focused enough to dismiss his key, and merely let it clatter to the study floor.

"Axel," Roxas tried again, sounding out the word, stunned.

"In the flesh," Axel replied, offering Roxas a hand up. "Not myflesh, mind, but I'll take a loaner."

"You're… like… us?" Roxas asked, slowly, as he took an unsteady step forward, instantly caught by his friend. Axel guided him, one hand on waist and the other on a shoulder.

"Easy there. Sora's body knows how to walk, but you haven't in a while. Might want to dismiss your key before you trip over it. And yes. Like you," Axel added, as Riku and Kairi came around to support Roxas as he regained his balance.

Axel took off a black glove and licked the back of his palm, smearing the wet across a cheek. The indigo instantly smudged. "See? Just makeup. This is my human's body, just like you and yours."

"Got it memorized?" Roxas mocked.

Axel snorted. "I deserved that. Come on, let's catch up on the roof with some ice cream. All of us."

Donald kept looking uneasily at the face and body of Sora, that currently wasn't acting very Sora-like.

"What?" Roxas asked to Donald. "You want Sora back?"

"Well, eventually," Donald admitted, a bit ashamed. "But he wanted you to have some time outside so I'll respect that."

Roxas squinted. "I can barely understand you."

"I take it back," Donald said in a huff.

Kairi shifted and squatted between them. "Donald, cut him a little slack. He can barely walk."

Donald just huffed, but tentatively held out a hand. "Since we've never actually met, then," he said, mildly irritated. "I guess I should at least say 'pleased to meet you'."

"Though the 'please' part is under review?" Roxas asked, trying to crack a smile, gingerly taking the hand for a shake, before turning his head when he heard the clicking of boots.

Axel flopped on the rooftop with a box of ice-cream sandwiches.

"That was a seriously dirty trick," Roxas complained, snatching one and unwrapping it.

"Hey, means and ends," Axel replied, before flattening himself against the shingles. He took a few labored deep breaths before shooting back up.

"Ugh, ow, sorry."

Roxas looked at Axel, and the young man shrugged.

"He was exhausted. Sorry, Roxas. I'll make sure you two can catch up another day."

"You're the human he came from, then?" Roxas asked nervously, as Lea passed the box down to Kairi.

"Lea. Yeah."

Lea flicked his fingers, materializing a keyblade of his own, then dismissed it just as fast, before reaching out with that same hand to shake Roxas's. "Nice to finally meet you. Axel doesn't shut up about you. Ever."

Roxas snorted, and bit into his sandwich, accepting the hand with his free one. "You two just did that to force me to come back out again another day."

"At least one of you has critical thinking skills," Lea replied with a laugh, unwrapping his own bar. "But he really was tired."

Roxas glowered at the reflection in the mirror, then turned away.

"The voice is annoying enough," he muttered to Lea, who had been charged with helping Roxas that afternoon in lieu of his own training. "But I feel like I'm just… stealing, seeing his face in the mirror."

"He did offer," Lea replied. "Just, don't abuse his kindness and that's enough. It's my pact with Axel."

"What if Axel does something you don't want him to do?"

"That's his mistake to make," Lea replied. "And I trust him. His mind is in the right place. If it helps, here."

Lea unzipped his Organization coat and flung it on Roxas's shoulders. "A bit big, but Riku might have one or two he's willing to spare."

Roxas pulled the fabric tightly around his shoulders, then snuck a peek back to the mirror, sighing.

"How do I talk to Sora, anyway?" he finally settled on asking. "You and Axel seem to be able to, and Sora could bother me."

"Well, anything I say out loud, Axel hears too, if he's conscious, and vice versa. You experienced that too, right?" Roxas nodded. "But if you want to actually hold a conversation with him, dive back into his heart."

Roxas just looked confused, before hearing an inaudible voice.

'Heya,' it said. It had no form, but Roxas instantly recognized it as Sora.

"Hi…?" Roxas asked the air.

'Next time, do me a favor and don't leave in such a hurry. You locked me in,' the voice replied, gently. 'D-don't worry! It's my own heart, I can pick it… I think. I can summon my keyblade, so…'

"You think?" Roxas replied aloud. Lea just sat opposite him in the practice room, laughing behind a hand.

Roxas took a few pained breaths, and suddenly Sora was clutching at his heart.

"Fuck," Sora said under his breath. "I shoved Roxas back in."

"You're not in your own room," Lea said with a smile. "And what was that about soap?"

'Sorry,' Sora whispered at Roxas's 'door' in his heart. 'I didn't mean to kick you out.'

'I know.'

'Can I… come in?'

The door disappeared into a pool of light, and Sora stepped inside. When he blinked again- not his body, he was just lying on his bed for a spare half hour before dinner- but when his heart-of-hearts did, he was standing in a little bedroom, of deep orange wood. On closer inspection, the wood itself wasn't orange, but stained from the sunset outside the window.

'Wow,' was all he could articulate, peering out into Twilight Town. 'I have the memory of the entire city in here?'

'Nah, I did this,' Roxas replied. Sora turned and looked behind him. Where the glowing doorway had been, was now just a regular wooden door, Roxas leaning against it. 'Once I realized this space was mine, I started seeing how far I could take it. When you… we… killed Axel, I hid in here. I made a memory of him, and then realized if I could do that, I could probably build a city.'

'So that's what you've been doing when you weren't responsive?'

Roxas just nodded. 'Though I dismissed my memory-Axel. I'm good at architecture, but people aren't fun if you create them yourself.'

'I wonder…' Sora thought aloud, before a woman in a black organization coat materialized into view.

'Please don't make people,' Roxas pleaded. 'I know they're not real.'

'I didn't make her,' Sora replied. 'This is Xion, one of the other refugees in here,' he added, introducing her.

Xion blinked the stars from her eyes and shook her head. 'Wow.'

Roxas blushed a little.

'When you locked me inside earlier, it was just a white room of nothingness,' Sora continued. 'But since you have an actual space here, I might be able to link up everyone. If you wanted to talk with each other, at least. Looks like I can, so…'

Xion was still wide eyed, running to the window. 'This is… this is the whole city. All I was able to manage in my space was the clock tower.'

Roxas was stunned. 'You're from Twilight?' he asked, moving to the window to get a better look at her.

'Mhmm,' she replied.

Roxas got a little closer, and his mouth dropped.

'Xi….Xion. You. You're Xion!'

His memory rushed back to him and suddenly the two of them were hugging each other tightly, afraid to let go.

Roxas blinked out a few tears, and scanned the room for Sora to give his thanks, but the other boy had already long vacated the plane of his heart.

Sora sat down at his desk that night with scattered notebooks on magical conjuration, yanking at his hair. He needed at the very least to figure out two things, possibly three, maybe more.

Sora had become pretty proficient in a wide range of battle spells- Lea-slash-Axel were better at fire and healing, while Sora prided himself on being a competent all-rounder- but non-combat, particularly conjuration and alteration spells, were often left unlearned. No turning toasters into giant battle monstrosities like Yen Sid. And don't even get him started on alchemy. He couldn't brew his own potions if his life depended on it. Anything that involved precise, exacting measurements or death was far out of his element. Sora, after all, did almost everything by the feel of it.

Sora couldn't feel through a temporary means of changing his voice, though. Either he'd need a good, reliable, easy-to-cast illusion spell, or, more likely, some sort of potion for that.

One he could pre-mix and leave out for his tagalongs to use for themselves, if they wanted.

Sora rubbed the bridge of his nose with his thumb. He'd leave body modifications aside for now; Donald was probably the person to ask, anyway, given his track record. Absentmindedly, Sora ran his tongue over his canines; Donald had cursed Sora to turn into a vampire when in Halloween Town, one that stuck even if he weren't present, as the boy found out a week ago running a mission there. It wasn't unpleasant, just odd (mostly just a little awkwardness with folding his little wings and a craving for very rare steak) much like the other spells Sora had been the recipient of over the years- a merdolphin for water planets like Atlantica, and a straight up lion cub when on Pride Rock. Of all his transfigurations, thatone took the most getting used to. Sure, he could run like the wind, but carrying his Keyblade between his teeth took some effort. Again, he didn't mind so much- and the rare meat thing still applied.

Sora mentally ticked off the other charms and curses and spells permanently coursing through him- and not all of them had to do with his travels. He vaguely remembered his seventh birthday Aero curse that still helped him now. It wasn't indefinite, but it did considerably lengthen the time he could be underwater without needing to breathe. Every resident on Destiny Islands got that curse as a kid, which made sense when you were never more than an hour's walk from the ocean.

He tapped on his to-do list with a pen, writing SEE DONALD under the various little things on temporary or conditional transfigurations.

Clothing would be a little easier. He didn't see his stowaways, not in so many words, but he knew what made them a little more at ease. Xion was easy enough- an Organization XIII coat. The spare Lea had tossed at Roxas earlier would just need to be magically resized.

Roxas could use it too, but Sora knew he flitted though his heart in more… casual clothing. At the very least he could probably go to Twilight Town and pick up some things that were more both Roxas's and Ventus's styles if he couldn't conjure them himself.

But really, he needed the excuse to work on more practical magic anyway.

He roughly sketched what he remembered, and got up. He couldn't cast this sort of thing wandless. Even the fairies who gave him his last set of traveling clothes relied on a little extra focus.

To be fair, his fairy vestments were charmed and helpfully cursed fifteen ways to Sunday, while he himself was just trying to make some jeans and sweatshirts.

Sora quietly plodded down to the requirement room, a floor above the study and below Yen Sid's own chambers. If it was unlocked, it was free to use. If it was locked, well, everyone here had a Keyblade anyway.

Sora swiped the pad of sticky notes and a black felt tip pen, looking around the room for the wand case. Most of them were on their peghooks, but an ice wand was missing, a sticky note with red text left behind.

YEAH THANKS FOR RATTING ME OUT. -AXEL

Sora laughed quietly. It made sense Axel would want to practice his weaker spells if he couldn't summon a keyblade like Lea. Now that it was public, Yen Sid would probably be putting him on his own training plan. It also meant Axel was up- or had come back out sometime earlier that evening.

Pink stickies where a tome on Aero and a bag of fairy dust had been stored. Kairi was out somewhere too, then, flying. Sora considered it a moment, and inhaled deeply, feeling a warmth surge as he let himself float for a moment before settling back on solid stone flooring. He still had it, but he reminded himself to practice or he might lose the ability all together. Peter Pan did warn him it got harder as an adult on fairy dust alone.

Sora didn't see any blue notes until he flicked up to the weapon wall. Riku had borrowed a shield.

Sora smiled lightly, opened the wand case, and tested a few of the conjuration wands in his hands.

The oak one snarled a little, and he put it back. Powerful, but temperamental as hell. The cherry one merely rolled away from his fingers if he reached for it.

He'd only attempted to use it to improve his cooking that onetime, and now it wouldn't even let him apologize!

Sora frowned. Maybe borrowing a wand was a stupid idea.

Something gently tapped his shoulder, and Sora twirled. The magicked objects of the tower still unnerved Sora sometimes. Destiny Island had robots, but those ran on electricity and computers and even though he had a black thumb for tech himself, the way they worked at least made some sense. Magic just wassometimes, and sure, he grew up with it, but it was usually either a last resort, used for healing, or for showing off. The day to day comforts weren't provided by floating food trays like one in front of him, nudging. Sora lifted the lid, and a cup of steaming chocolate with star-shaped marshmallows and a dollop of quickly melting whipped cream stared back at him.

"Can you put it on the desk in my room?" Sora asked the serving tray that had brought him a gift he didn't realize he needed.

The platter floated off, accompanied by a broom sweeping the stone flooring.

Sora bit his lip and returned his attentions to the wand case, when he realized he wasn't alone in the room.

"Couldn't sleep?" Donald asked.

"It's only 9PM," Sora replied, sighing, being rejected by every wand in the conjuring box.

"Right, local time," Donald said. "It's 2AM back home."

Sora checked his phone. "6:30AM on Destiny," Sora replied.

"Sora?" Donald asked with surprise.

"You thought you were making small talk to Roxas?"

"Yes."

"I accidentally threw him back inside my heart, but he's okay."

Donald just watched him for a while, trying to coax a wand into not shocking him.

"They really don't like you, do they," Donald rasped out, with a half-laugh. "That's literally a first."

"I'm not really great with structured formal magic," Sora admitted.

"Oh really?" Donald asked with a literal ton of sarcasm. "I never would have known. So, why the sudden interest? Homework?"

Sora shook his head. "It's probably going to sound stupid- but…"

"A lot of things you say sound stupid."

"You didn't need to agree!"

"I said sound stupid, knucklehead. Not were stupid." Donald laughed. "I'd put it in at around ninety percent flying by the seat of your pants."

Sora glared at the case of wands and slammed the lid. Gently.

"When- not if, when- the other people in my heart borrow me, I want to make it a little more comfortable for them."

"Conditional transformation?" Donald asked, after he peered back to look at the case's label.

"That would be the goal," Sora admitted. "But I figured I could at least magick up some clothes. I'm a little too afraid to try anything even as simple as temporarily changing my hair color."

"You'd probably burn all of it off," Donald said, thrumming his fingers. "Heaven help me you're too nice. Fine," Donald added with a rasped huff. "And for the record, I don't think it's stupid."

Sora hung up the string of four paopu shaped stones- the five-pointed fruit shape his idea- over his mirror. One in yellow, one in blue, one in green, and the last white, all glowing softly. Sora knew how they worked- he'd spent a good almost five hours with Donald constructing them, or really, Donald doing the heavy lifting while Sora followed with interest and practiced conjuring up fabrics- draining three cups of hot chocolate and another two sodas to get him through it in one go. Donald had even given him one of his old paopu-tree wands, one that didn't immediately hate Sora's guts, with the warning that it was the only one he was getting. If Sora pissed this one off too, that was on him.

It felt a bit like childhood, and Destiny Islands, and he could swear he heard the ocean when he held it.

He promised the thing he'd do spells perfectly by the book.

At least until they got to know each other a little better. Then he'd experiment as much as the thing would tolerate.

Sora looked at the bulletin board before sliding into his seat at the table. Nobody had assignments that day.

Weird.

He yawned, passed the juice to Lea, and quietly cut his egg toast.

"So, what's with the lack of info, Master?" Lea asked, breaking the unease, looking back over his shoulder at the board, jabbing his knife at it.

"I want Riku and Kairi to take back their heart pieces from Sora today. They'll all need some time to recover after that. You and Donald can help with healing, if needed."

Donald, tired and jet lagged, just nodded at the opposite end of the table.

"Just understand, Master, you're ripping out two pieces from Sora at once. Having Axel in here is like having a bi-level house with a roommate. Taking him out isn't just kicking out someone for failing to pay rent. It's then going and ripping out that entire floor to spite them for having ever been there."

"I assumed as much, Lea, but those pieces of heart have bodies to return to."

"I didn't say don't do it, I'm just offering a word of warning," Lea replied. "Given that Sora still has more residents in that hostel of his heart, it might make more sense to ask one of them to be up, while he's inside, keeping the rest of the building from collapsing- metaphysically, if Riku and Kairi's pieces are holding up some of the others there's going to be some stability issues. Just a thought."

Sora jittered a bit at that.

"It would… break me?"

"You, no, it's your heart. But it might do damage to the other residents. It's just a theory. I've only got a split-level, mind you."

"I'll ask if Roxas wants to swap," Sora said quietly, as he swallowed a piece of egg white. "I can keep Xion and Ventus safe."

Riku and Kairi looked at Sora worriedly. "Both of us at once?" Kairi asked.

"Better to just rip off the bandage clean," Lea shrugged. "Makes more sense to me."

"I agree with Lea," Sora said, clattering his silverware louder than necessary. "If I'm going to do it, let me just get it over with."

"One hour, then?" Yen Sid asked the group. Everyone nodded.

Lea walked quietly back up to Sora's room with him, sitting on his bed at the corner.

Sora thrummed his fingers.

"Hey, don't be nervous, we're cheering for you," Lea said brightly.

Sora just looked past Lea at his open closet. Lea followed his gaze and noticed a few new things hanging up on the bar. "Hey! You shrunk my coat!" Lea whined.

"I can resize it," Sora replied, running to grab it before Lea took his wrist.

"I have two others. I gave that one to Roxas. Were you going to change for him?"

"Yeah… I mean, I was totally aware yesterday, and not at the same time, it was weird. I know he didn't like seeing me in the mirror."

"Were you locked up in a bright white room, with nothing? When Roxas took over, I mean."

"Same for you?" Sora asked, sitting down on the edge of his bed next to Lea. The redhead nodded.

"Only at first. But I realized I could redecorate pretty quickly. Soon, it wasn't a room, but a pretty nice house. And eventually, Axel and I built into each other's spaces. So, now when I'm asleep, like, in bed asleep, not letting him drive asleep, we can both talk freely, so long as we're not both mentally exhausted."

"Yeah, I realized I could link up Xion's and Roaxs's spaces for them. Don't know how to connect mine yet, and I haven't actually been able to get ahold of Ventus. They have to invite me in."

"You're going to have to get him up, and then move all of you to the biggest space. It'll be easier to protect them if parts of their spaces become unstable."

"That's Roxas's, unless Ventus's is bigger. I've never actually been inside. But it's kinda hard to top a whole city."

"A what."

"Roxas's space isn't a house. It's a pretty impressive recreation of Twilight Town."

Lea just rolled his eyes. "Of course it is. Look, just do what you need to, and get yourself, Xion, and Ventus in Roxas's heart-space. The clocktower is probably going to be the most stable place in the city. If it starts to collapse, that'll be the last place that falls."

"Xion said that was all she had in her space. What's up with the clock?"

Lea shrugged. "It's an Axel-Roxas-Xion thing. Funny. Axel only knew Roxas when you spoke yesterday, but at like eight last night he demanded my body and started researching like crazy. And he started… remembering. Stuff."

Sora just smiled. "Yeah… its complicated. I… I'm going to change and try to get Ventus out of his space, okay?"

"Do you want me back in here when Roxas is up to talk you through that?"

Sora shrugged. "Time works differently in there. I think it'll be faster to just do it on my own. But… I'm sure Roxas would appreciate the company."

"Axel's at least," Lea snorted. "He burned himself out last night. I'm not walking him unless I have to." Lea stood up, stretching his bony long limbs. "If Roxas wants me, I'm sure he'll call for me. Just have him in the study when you can."

Sora nodded, as Lea left the room, shutting his door.

Sora shucked off his normal clothes, reaching for the black coat. He knew it would fit, but the thing was also very form fitting.

Just the sweatshirt and black jeans, then. Sora changed into the clothes he'd made the night before, foling up his own and leaving them on a chair, before reaching up, touching the yellow glowing stone affixed to his mirror.

His face didn't change, but his hair yellowed out to a dirty, musty blonde, and he felt his throat hitch for a moment.

He didn't try out his voice, he just flopped on his bed, closed his eyes, and reached out for Roxas to wake up.

Roxas wasn't responding, but Sora realized his door wasn't locked or barred. He stepped inside the light, blinking as he readjusted to Roxas's bedroom, still bathed in twilight. His bed was left unmade, and a black Organization coat was left haphazardly atop the sheets.

Nobody home. Lea had said something about the clocktower, though, hadn't he? Sora pulled up the map of the shopping districts from his memory as he exited Roxas's house, before realizing that he just needed to look up. The clocktower was one of the tallest buildings in the city.

Sure enough, when he got closer, he could hear laughter, above him. Sora thought of sky, and floated up towards a high ledge. Roxas and Xion shared a mound of ice cream and taco wrappers between them, Xion, in a black tank top and dress pants, and Roxas in his favorite hoodie and black jeans with the silver overlay.

It was hercoat on his bed, then.

Xion offered Sora an ice cream. 'Don't worry, it's not like it'll melt. Unless you want it to.'

'Never liked sea salt flavor,' Sora admitted. Xion flipped the bar in her fingers and it turned into an ice cream sandwich. Sora took it.

'It's still sea salt! I wanted…' Sora stopped, and looked down at the bar again. It had been blue a second before, but was now a rich brown. 'Coffee.'

'Bleh,' both Roxas and Xion voiced in unison.

'Your loss,' Sora replied. 'To be fair, I only started liking it recently. Something about liking more bitter foods with age,' he added, jokingly jabbing Xion in the ribs. 'Xion, do you need anything from your space? I can take you back.'

'You're sitting on it,' she replied. 'Roxas and I merged our stuff. The clocktower is mine, and his too, but my tower was way more detailed.' She paused to stick her tongue out at Roxas like a kid. '…And it joined up with Roxas's city.'

'Makes my job easier then,' Sora replied finishing the sandwich. Roxas passed him a wet wipe.

'I heard. Most of it, I think,' Roxas said. 'You're evicting Kairi and Riku?'

Sora nodded. 'They're alive. They deserve their hearts whole. Erm,' Sora added an embarrassed noise, looking at Roxas and Xion.

'It's not like we can do anything about that,' Roxas finally articulated. 'I'll head on out. But if anything happens to Xion, I'll beat the snot out of you and then some.'

'Don't do anything until I get Ventus in here,' Sora admonished.

'I did say I heard,' Roxas said, and then he was gone, and Sora's eyes fluttered back open in the world outside.

"Also," Roxas said aloud, before doing a double take, hearing a voice that wasn't exactly his, but came frighteningly close. "Um. Okay. Whoa."

'Yeah?' Sora thought up to Roxas.

"You didn't have to do this." Roxas preened for a moment in the mirror, which was an eternity and then some for Sora and Xion, who had left Roxas's piece of heart to go wake Ventus.

'No, but I wanted to.'

Ventus's door stung when Sora reached for it.

'I'm not sure this is safe,' Sora admonished. 'You're only in the pathway between because I'm holding you. I'm worried what would happen if I let go. I should bring you back to Twilight Town and have you wait there.'

Xion shook her head. 'I'm still a Nobody. I can forge paths in the dark just fine.'

Sora looked at her sideways. Xion was no damsel in distress. 'Fine. You try his door.'

Xion reached out, and the darkness parted easily.

'Sometimes you just need the right key.'

Xion adjusted Sora's grip, until she was the one escorting him. 'Come on, we have a damsel in distress to rescue.'

'What do you… oh.'

Sora found himself on an island, floating in the night sky, with a little bit of grassy grounds and a castle, and nothing else. It was larger than a clocktower, for sure, but much smaller than the city Roxas had made, and certainly much less stable. Sora felt it was the mental equivalent of being held together by gum and shoelaces.

Even now, bits and pieces of the world were breaking away, floating out into the aether.

'Ventus must be in the castle,' Sora mused.

'Duh. There wouldn't be a castle at all if he weren't in your heart anymore, unless this is Riku or Kairi's.'

'No, not necessarily. Riku and Kairi- or Namine at least- have both been here too.'

'Castle… Oblivion?' Sora mouthed slowly, as Xion pulled him along, blasting a hole through the door on the way. 'I mean, yes, but I don't think it's significant for them to make their mindscape into. Radiant Garden, maybe, or The World That Never Was for Riku well above this…. Aurgh!'

Xion was speeding now, through a dizzying mix of stark white rooms and beautiful marbled castle furnishings, in no coherent order, literally yanking Sora along. He took a breath, and began a glide, propelling them faster.

'Can you sense him? I can't,' she admitted.

'Below. That's all I have right now.'

Xion dove, shattering straight through ceilings and floors and walls.

'Stop!' Sora shouted.

They froze in midair, as the debris did around them, stopped in time.

'Uh…' Sora admitted. 'I think I just actually casted Stop.'

'Stopga, by the looks of things,' Xion said, unmoving.

Sora reached out with his free hand, and bopped Xion on the nose; she flexed. 'Thanks.'

'Well, we're here, anyway.' Sora pushed off nothingness, and floated down to a throne where Ventus was slumped. He nudged the haphazardly sleeping boy, and the debris shot backwards through time, fixing the walls and ceilings and floors as they reversed back to wholeness.

'Bwuh?' Ventus asked, confused and mildly in the throes of slumber.

'Have you heard of Twilight Town? It's on the edge of the World of Worlds.'

'North, far north of Radiant Garden and Olympus?' Ventus asked groggily, not fully aware.

Sora nodded.

'I've been… once or twice. During training… good ice cream…'

'Come on, we're taking you on vacation,' Xion said, helping him to his feet. Sora hooked his free arm around Ventus's waist, and suddenly they were back in the space between in his heart.

'My armor!' Ventus cried out, but was in Roxas's bedroom before he could register that he didn't need it here.

Sora let go. Ventus was panicking, a little confused, and Xion, embarrassed to see her coat right there on Roxas's bed, flung it back on her shoulders.

'Roxas?' Sora called out and upwards to nothingness.

Roxas hadn't moved from the mirror. Only a few moments had passed.

"Got him?"

'We're going to grab some ice cream at the clocktower.'

'Ice cream?' Ventus asked, perking up. 'For breakfast?'

'After what just happened?' Sora asked, opening Roxas's bedroom door and gesturing for them to follow. 'I could use twenty coffee sandwiches.'