It was that dream again.

I couldn't see anything other than a scene that looked like it was out of a broken TV—there was so much static. The voices I heard were both distorted, as if they were coming from a defective radio:

"—listen, you've to get away from here—"

"But, what about—"

"Don't worry about— you can find us later. Right now, you've got to get away from—"

"…Thank you, —"

The scene changed, and I felt myself running like I've never ran before. I didn't know where I was going, or why I was going there; all I knew was that I had to get away from the place I was in.

As soon as I stopped to catch my breath, several black creatures popped out of the ground, joined by white monsters that appeared out of thin air.

Out of instinct, I raised my arm and the air around my hand shimmered brightly. A long blade shaped somewhat like a key appeared in my hand. I didn't stop to take in the weapon; I just started hitting all of the monsters around me.

Slashing, lunging, dodging….

No matter what I did, there was no sign of them stopping. They kept multiplying and filling the area around me until the only spot they didn't consume was where I was standing. Tendrils of darkness shot up from the ground around my hand, slowly spreading over my body. I struggled to free myself but the darkness wouldn't let go, and I was on the brink of giving up…

Suddenly, a person clothed in black appeared in the midst of the darkness and quickly freed me, taking out many of the creatures as well.

"It's you…" I heard myself say. The person turned themselves to me and lent their hand out to me. A black portal formed behind them. The creatures around me were reappearing, and I took my savior's hand without another thought.

Everything went black, and I couldn't see that person anymore. I turned around and saw one of my best friends, just standing in the middle of the room of darkness. He had his eyes closed and he looked at peace, as if he were sleeping.

"Roxas…?" I poked the blond, trying to wake him up. He reacted when I called his name, but when he opened his eyes, I gasped.

His appearance changed; he now had brown, spiky hair but still had Roxas's bright blue eyes. Those eyes sparkled as the new guy smiled broadly and lent his hand out to me.

A door of light formed behind him, growing until it engulfed us both.

Green eyes fluttered open and blinked rapidly, trying to adjust to the light of the Usual Spot. Their owner was a young, fifteen year old girl who yawned and glanced around, wondering where her friends were at the moment.

"Where did everyone go?" she thought aloud, stretching.

"Reina! You're finally up!"

Reina looked at the entrance of the Usual Spot and smiled. It was Pence, her teddy-like, brown-eyed friend who always liked to wear an orange jersey over a white shirt with jeans.

"Hey!" she greeted. "Where is everyone?"

"They're out to get work." Pence said simply.

She tilted her head. "Work? What for?"

"Geez, Hayner was right! You do have the memory of a goldfish!" He laughed. "We've got to get enough money so we can go to the beach, remember?"

Reina slapped a hand to her forehead. "I forgot about that!"

"You still have a bunch of time left." Pence assured. "But you've got to hurry before all of the work is taken."

"Did you guys find any?"

"Yeah. I'm going to take some pictures for an event. I think Olette's putting up flyers and Hayner's helping out at the hardware store." Pence took his camera off of the table and put the strap over his head. "Well, gotta run. Make sure you have 600 munny when we meet back at the Station!"

"Yeah, see ya!"

Pence left and Reina hastily made it to the town's main bulletin board, where most of the wanted ads were posted. To her surprise, Roxas was still at the board, leaning on his skateboard and looking lost in thought.

"Hey! Found anything yet?" she greeted him with a smile.

He looked up and smiled back. "No, I'm still deciding between clearing the hardware shop's junk or putting up flyers."

"Oh, Pence told me that Olette and Hayner already took those jobs." Reina said.

Roxas's shoulders slumped. "Then there's nothing else left!"

Reina searched for something Roxas might have missed.

"Mmmm…how about this one?" she pointed to a random flyer.

"Nope. Taken."

"Uh, this one?"

"Seifer put up that one."

"Ugh. Then how about…this one?"

"That one's really old."

Reina sighed. "There really is nothing left on this board, huh?"

"Yeah, I've checked." He suddenly looked excited when he asked her, "You wanna find something to do together?"

She tucked a strand of her black hair behind her ear and thought. "You think we'll be able to get enough money like that?"

"Well, we can probably get a lot of work and finish it quickly. We're already kinda behind."

"You're right…." She smiled. "Sure, let's go to Station Heights. I'm sure they have something over there."

They wandered around until they would some work putting away a whole new shipment of sweets at the candy shop. The owner was so impressed with the efficiency of their work that she gave them 240 munny each and a small sample of the new sweets.

"Now just 620 to go!" Reina said cheerily, taking a bite of her candy.

But as they kept trying to look for more work, they found that their first job was the only work they were going to get; all the other work was either taken.

"You snooze, you lose!" Hayner shook a bag of money as they were being turned away by a shop he was working in.

"What now? I bet the rest have loads of money!" Roxas said, crossing his arms behind his head. He was right—it was a couple of hours after noon and all they had was 240 munny each, while the others were bound to have more.

*There has got to be another way!* Reina thought, sick of wandering around for hours.

They were at the top of stairs when Roxas turned to Reina. He set his skateboard to the ground.

"Watch me land this." He said with an air of cockiness.

"Just like you tried to land the school stairs?" Reina laughed, talking about the time where Roxas tried to do one of his crazy stunts on the school campus and he accidentally tripped—and fell right on to the principal. The female principal. Along with getting a detention, Pence and Hayner wouldn't stop using it as a joke for weeks.

Roxas's cheeks tinged and he said, "I know I won't this time."

"How can be so sure?"

He looked at her and smiled. "Cause I'm landing this one for you."

Something in Reina's heart lurched. It was these types of things that made Reina like him so much, though she didn't want to admit it. Even though everyone else always joked that they were a couple, she was scared that being in an actual relationship might damage the great friendship they already had because Roxas wouldn't be able to reciprocate her feelings.

He smiled lightly at the look on her face and skated quickly forward. He leapt onto the rail of the stairs and then grinded down till the edge of the rail. When he got to the end, he made another leap and did a 360 in midair.

"That. Was. Awesome!" Reina cheered.

"Thanks, I—" Roxas was cut off by a group of three small kids approaching him.

"Hey, mister, that was great!"

"I wish I could do that!"

"We'll give ya 5 munny if you can show us again!"

Roxas smiled and turned down the offer. "You don't have to pay me."

As he went up the stairs and performed the trick again, an idea popped into Reina's mind.

"See ya!" Roxas waved to the kids at the same time Reina cried, "I've got it!"

Roxas tilted his head. "Got what?"

"A way for us to get munny quickly!"

"How?"

"We're gonna put up a show." Reina grinned brightly. "And you're the star!"

"Huh?" Then, he understood when she pointed to his skateboard. He shook his head. "I don't think that'll work."

"Of course it will!" Reina folded her arms and looked at him seriously. "What other option do you have?"

Nothing came across in his mind. Roxas sighed. "Fine…"

Reina grinned and pointed her thumb toward herself. "Great! Now, leave everything to me and you just perform the tricks, kay?"

Even though he had a feeling that something was going to go wrong, Roxas couldn't help but smile at her excited expression.

In just a few minutes, Reina gathered a crowd around the Sandlot, where Roxas performed a series of tricks. The crowd quite impressed and they cheered and applauded in all the right places. At the end of the performance, Reina collected munny at the end of the performance and bid the audience goodbye.

"That was really fun!" Reina smiled, starting to count the earnings. "We should do that again sometime."

"Nuh-uh!" Roxas shook his head. "Half of the time, I was scared that'll fall onto someone."

Flashes of their principal's expression swam into his mind and they both laughed.

"Well! We've got enough." She said happily, putting all of the munny into Roxas's bag and handing it to him. "Let's head to the beach now!"

They started trekking to the Station, using an alley they used often as a shortcut. They were happily discussing their expectations for their trip to the beach, so they didn't expect to encounter a man clothed in a hooded black robe to stand in their path.

The figure didn't move and the two teens stared at the man with curiosity and caution.

"Well, well. Traitors of a feather flock together, eh?"

The man lowered his hood and revealed himself as a redhead with green eyes. He had black markings underneath his eyes and an amused expression.

Roxas turned to Reina and whispered, "Do you know this guy?"

When Reina shook her head, Roxas took her hand and they passed the red haired man without a word. Reina looked back and was shocked to see that the man disappeared. Into thin air.

"Whoa!"

Roxas stopped abruptly, and Reina looked at what he was glaring at. Her eyes widened to see that the man appeared again, this time with a more saddened expression.

"Don't you guys remember me?" He struck a pose and said, "Got it memorized?"

The two just stared at him strangely and the man sighed. "I guess you don't have it memorized…"

He put a hand to his chin and then looked at Reina with excitement in his eyes. "What about you? I'm sure you will, with your heart and all—"

The man took a step toward her, but Roxas quickly blocked him, holding his skateboard as some kind of weapon.

"Hey cool down, hotshot!" The man took a step back with his hands up. He smirked and said, "I always knew you had a thing for her…"

The teens glanced at each other, turning slightly pink.

"How would you know?" Reina asked, stepping up with Roxas. "Are you stalking us or something?"

The man snorted and looked at them intently. "I've just known you guys for a long time."

He walked past them and patted Reina's head affectionately, just like how a big brother would. The man flashed a great smile at them before disappearing in a cloud of darkness.

It was silent for a moment before Roxas exclaimed, "What a psycho!"

Reina stared at the spot the man disappeared. "I wonder who that guy was."

"He's probably some weirdo magician to cheat us out of our money or something. Or…" Roxas launched into a thousand possibilities of the identity of the redhead.

Reina smiled slightly, glad that Roxas wasn't as freaked out by the encounter as she was.

That man…he was wearing the same outfit as the person in her dream. Was there a connection?

Reina shook her head. *Nah…it can't be. It was just a coincidence, that's all. There must be thousands of outfits like that, anyways.*

"Or!" Roxas's voice snapped her out of her thoughts. The blonde pulled out a blue, spherical jewel and smiled triumphantly. "It be some a comeback from Seifer for us winning the Struggle tournament!"

Reina smirked and pulled out a jewel similar to the one Roxas had, except it was green. "We? I won that tournament, remember? I beat you guys!"

"That doesn't count. The sun was in my eyes then." Roxas muttered, trying to look annoyed.

Reina rolled her eyes and smiled. "Whatever."

When they were close to the Station, Reina said, "I'm just gonna go and round up the others, okay?"

Roxas nodded. "Be careful. That guy could still be around."

"I'm the Struggle queen!" Reina jabbed her thumb toward herself. "He's not gonna bother me."

She smiled brightly, but Roxas still looked a little unsure as he watched her leave. He didn't notice a dark figure, watching…waiting…

The first person Reina found was Olette, who was looking wistfully at a display of fashionable handbags in the window of a store.

Olette greeted her and gushed, "Look at these! They're so cute!"

Reina merely glanced at the display and agreed; she knew if they started a conversation about Olette's fashion ideas, they'd be stuck there forever.

"I've got the money." Reina said, trying to divert Olette's attention. "What about you?"

Olette nodded and pulled out a small, stuffed bag. "It was easy, since I actually save the money mom gives us."

Reina looked at her sheepishly. "It was a sale last week! I couldn't pass that up!" she said in her defense. Olette smiled.

Even though could pass as sisters, Reina and Olette weren't biologically related; Reina was adopted at a very young age by Olette's parents. Reina was too young to remember what her parents looked like, or how they were. The only moments of her child that she remembered were with Olette and her parents.

"Okay, let's go. Hayner and Pence said that they're gonna wait for us at the Station." Olette told her.

"Great." Reina was turning to leave when Olette asked, "Where's Roxas? Hayner told me you were finding work together."

By the interested look on Olette's face, Reina knew what she was implying.

"He's at the Station too." Reina said as casually as possible.

"Oh, was the date fun?"

"There was no date, Olette. We just found some work, that's all."

"Then what's with that smile?"

Reina arched an eyebrow. "What smile?"

"You know, that smile you have whenever you're with Roxas! You had it on when you were walking here…" Olette said teasingly.

"I do…?" Reina shook her head. "It's because we're going to the beach!"

"Mhmm. Sure. Don't think I don't know that there's something going on between you two."

It was true, on Reina's part at least, but she knew better than to admit it. "There isn't. We're just…friends."

"Sure." Olette said, looking a little disappointed. Reina used this as an opportunity to divert Olette's focus back to the trip and they both set off to the Station. They were both smiling and excited about the trip when they reached the Station, but it all faded when they saw their other friends' expressions. All the guys looked unhappy and troubled about something.

"What's wrong?"

Pence looked grim. "We can't go to the beach."

"Why not?" Olette exclaimed.

"I lost all of the money we earned." Roxas admitted.

Reina was shocked. "How?"

"Some guy mugged him, apparently."

The girls widened their eyes. "Are you okay?" Reina asked with concern.

"Yeah." He nodded. "Just a little bummed…"

"As long as you're okay…" Olette said, though she looked a little disappointed. They all were.

"Well, what now?" Hayner looked at Central Station wistfully.

"How about some ice cream? That'll always cheer us up." Reina suggested.

They all agreed on this and within a few minutes, they were atop the Station Tower with sea salt ice creams in hand. They were just in time to enjoy the pinks, oranges, and purples that made up the beautiful sunset that Twilight Town was so proudly named after.

Everyone except Pence seemed to be enjoying the ice cream and the scenery, acting as if their vacation plans hadn't been canceled at all. All of a sudden, the brown haired kid pulled out his part of the Struggle trophy and held it up to the sun. The yellow jewel sparkled attractively and it seemed as if it were a real jewel, not a substitute. Everyone imitated Pence and pulled out their part of the trophy, holding it up next to Pence's piece. An iridescent light filled the air around them, and Pence smiled sadly at everyone.

"What's wrong?" Olette asked.

"Do you think we'll be like this forever?" His question hit everyone like a tidal wave.

Everyone went silent for a moment. "Of course," Reina said with confidence. "Why wouldn't we?"

"I dunno…" Pence shrugged. "I just have this weird feeling that we're gonna separate…but, that's what life's all about huh? Accepting changes… "

"That's true…" Hayner said. There was a silence and everyone wore troubled expressions.

"Well, even if we do split when we get older, we just won't forget each other." Roxas smiled.

"You're right." Reina agreed. "If we keep each other in our memories, all these moments—"

"—will never end!" Hayner finished and Reina nodded.

"So, let's make a promise never to forget anyone or these moments!" Olette added with a reassuring smile. Everyone muttered their promises and Pence looked around gratefully at all his friends. A huge burden seemed to be lifted off of him, and he managed a smile.

"This way, these moments will go on…forever and ever." Reina said, looking at the horizon.

"Yeah, forever…" Roxas whispered to Reina. She looked at him and he moved his hand over hers. She intertwined her fingers with his and felt herself smile. When they met eyes, they both looked at each other intently, and it was then that they realized that their feelings were mutual. They both looked back at the sunset, feeling happier than ever before.

*Forever and ever…with you…*

"Wow, it's really dark." Olette noted as she and Reina trudged back home after saying their goodbyes to everyone else.

"Yeah, looks like there's some problem with the power again." Reina pointed to some of the streetlamps that flickered ominously.

*That's odd…I thought they fixed those last week.* Reina thought, looking at a blinking streetlamp. Suddenly, she heard a loud rustle. She quickly looked around, but it was too dark to make out anything. She assumed it was some animal but she heard it again, and this time it was closer.

"Hey, did you hear that?" she turned to face Olette. But, Olette wasn't anywhere beside her. Reina twisted around and saw her friend, several paces behind her.

"Olette?" Reina instantly felt something was wrong and she approached her friend. In the dimmest light, she saw that Olette was staring blankly ahead, the last of the laughter they shared still in her green eyes. She was standing as still as a statue and at first Reina assumed it was some kind of weird joke, but after a few seconds, she realized something was terribly wrong. She waved her hand in front of the brunette, but she gained no reaction.

*I've gotta get some help! * As she turned around, what she saw also made her freeze. It was a man clothed in a hooded, black robe. His hood covered his face, but Reina was sure that it was the same weirdo from before. A black portal appeared behind him, and Reina was suddenly reminded of her dream.

The man took a step forward and Reina hesitated, not wanting to leave Olette alone in her frozen state. "S-stay away from us!" Reina shouted and held her hands up and tried to look as intimidating as possible, though she knew she couldn't hold him off for long.

Surprisingly, the man stopped. "Us?"

Reina turned and her eyes widened. Olette was gone! But, where did she go…?

Reina did have any time to think about that; the man was approaching her quickly. Reina turned heel as fast as possible and dashed away from there.

'…you've got to get away from here…'

Somehow, this all felt familiar…

'…you've got to get away from…'

But that was impossible….

'…you can find us later….'

Was it?

The man appeared before her bursting from a huge haze of darkness. Without another thought, she turned and ran into the opposite direction.

She didn't realize that she running straight into a door of darkness. Once she disappeared into the portal, the man chuckled.

"That was just too easy…"

"Have you done what I ask you to?" a male voice asked as a cloaked person appeared beside him. They were in a dark, quite small room, lit only by the light radiating off of the many computers in front of them.

The person nodded. "Yes."

"Good." The man said approvingly. He looked at the computers. "If all goes well, they will both be able to regain all their memories again."

"I'm not so sure, DiZ…" the person said, causing DiZ to look at him as a teacher who has been challenged by a student. "Her memories of Roxas are strong…"

"When she meets him," DiZ nodded to the boy on the screen. "Her memories of Roxas will eventually fade, along with Roxas himself. He can't hold on to those memories forever, you know."

"So, he'll just…disappear?"

DiZ nodded. "Yes."

"What a pity…" the man said, with a hint of sympathy in his voice.

"It is the fate of a Nobody."

"Reina…wake up…wake up!"

Reina shot off from her bed and screamed. She held her hands up in front of herself and there was silence for a few seconds before the sound of laughter. Hesitantly, Reina lowered her arms and saw that she was still in her room…no psycho to take her away around here…

The sound of laughter came from Olette, who was holding her stomach and the edge of the bed for support. She was red from laughter, just like how Reina was red from embarrassment.

"What the heck was that?" she asked, when she managed to compose herself.

"Bad…dream?" Reina said sheepishly, scratching her neck embarrassedly.

Olette looked at her with an amused expression before saying, "I'm gonna wait for you by the Usual Spot, then. Hurry up!" And she left, still chuckling over the incident. Reina shook her head.

*What a crazy dream…* She hurried downstairs and gobbled down a quick breakfast made by Olette's mom. As she walked over to the Usual Spot, Reina felt herself smile while imagining Roxas's expression when she told him about the dream.

But Roxas wasn't there.

"Hey guys." She greeted, looking around. "Where's Roxas?"

The three just stared at her blankly before saying, "Uh….who?"

"Roxas." She said simply. When they kept looking at her oddly, she said, "You know, blonde hair, blue eyes, goofy smile?"

The three shook their heads. This had got to be some kinda joke…but, it wasn't funny, and they all seemed to be serious…

"Cmon, stop playing around. We were just with him yesterday! On Station Tower! Remember….?"

They all shared worried glances with each other before Pence said, "It was just us four yesterday, Reina…"

Reina looked at all of them in outrage. "How could you all forget him? We made a promise! Remember?"

"Reina, are you sure you're feeling okay?" Olette said gently, putting a hand to Reina's forehead. She flinched and said, "No, I'm not…I think I need some air…"

Without another word, she left the Usual Spot and went everywhere and asked everyone. Everyone she met, even the lady who she worked for yesterday, gave the same answer: "Who's Roxas?"

It was like she was in another world.

Every corner she turned to, she held a hope that he'd be there, waiting for her…and every turn she'd always feel disappointed and frustrated. She searched every place twice, and was going for a third time before she started walking around in complete confusion.

How could everyone forget him in one night? Everyone knew him, so how was it possible that their memories of him were wiped in one instant? And why was she the only one to remember him?

*It's probably that weirdo we met yesterday!* Reina concluded, deep in her thoughts. *He probably did something to everyone's memories…but what could it—*

Reina snapped out of her thoughts when she bumped into someone.

"Oh, sorr—" she stared into a pair of kind, bright blue eye. "Roxas!" she exclaimed, but it wasn't him.

It was the guy from her dream.

*Where could she be, where could she be…?*

Roxas was running, for the second time, around Twilight Town to find Reina. It was strange; she didn't show up with Olette at the Usual Spot today so when he asked about her, everyone said that there was no Reina. They spent so much time together, so many memories, laughter and happiness…he could never forget them, so why did everyone else? Why was it that everyone in Twilight Town, excluding him, suddenly forgot Reina overnight? Whatever it was, he was sure it'll be over when he brought her back home.

He was determined to find her, no matter what, and bring her back to Twilight Town safe and sound. Everyone would remember her again, and things would go back to normal; everyone would remember her, they'd hang out with the others again…and he'd finally tell his true feelings about her. He knew that she felt the same way about him, and when they would get back, they'd finally, truly be together again.

Or so he hoped.

*Maybe she's here…nope, maybe there…* Roxas was about to take a turn around a corner when a familiar voice spoke to him.

"She ran away without telling you again, did she?"

Roxas spun around and saw the same redheaded man from yesterday. He was leaning on the wall with his arms crossed and didn't face Roxas.

Roxas jumped to conclusions. "What did you do to her?" he approached the redhead angrily, but he just vanished in a haze of darkness and reappeared behind Roxas.

"Nothing." The redhead said simply. "But I do have an idea of where she might be. I can tell you…if you're willing to remember."

"Remember?" Roxas repeated. "Remember what?"

"Organization XIII. Your past. You don't remember that?"

"I have no idea what you're talking about." Roxas said, wanting to turn around and leave. But somehow, something inside of him told him to stay and listen to the man. And, funnily enough, Organization XIII sounded familiar…

The man sighed and muttered, "We're gonna have to start from the beginning…."

He turned his green eyes into Roxas' blue ones and asked a question that shattered all his hopes for a normal life back at Twilight Town and made him remember everything about his past.

"Do you remember Sora?"

~Author's Note

Wow, this rewrite is super long compared to the original Xp I actually like this one wayyy better, though the only problem is that the linebreaks I used to use aren't working here for some reason...Xp

As for my previous readers, I'm sure you can tell there is a huge difference the plotline of this chapter and the original. That's because I'm redoing the whole thing and I'm gonna go a little bit more by the game's plotline Xp There probably are going to be some things from the original in here, but all in all, the basics changed. :D I hope you like this better than the original! And, thanks to everyone who helped me and gave me some support as I wrote this, I love you guys~! xD

Anyways, I hoped that you all enjoyed reading this as much as I enjoyed writing this! ^.^

Aaaand, question time:

Were there any parts you liked or disliked? What do you think is Reina's connection to Axel? To Sora? Would love to know~!

~narcotic-lullaby