Chapter 2

CHAPTER 1 THE 1st DAY UNDER THE SOFT LIGHT SPILLING IN THROUGH THE WINDOW, Roxas slowly opened his eyes. “Another dream about him…,” he mumbled, then stood up on his bed to fling the window wide open. The warm, faintly humid summer air rushed in. His chestnut hair shone honey-gold in the light. From his room on the second floor, Roxas could see a broad swath of the town. A dream… Ever since the beginning of summer vacation, Roxas had been having the same dreams every night. Dreams of a vivid blue sky over a brilliant sea of the same color, and a boy, named for that sky. The boy’s name was… “……Sora.” Roxas murmured it to himself and blinked his blue eyes. The boy in the dream, Sora, had a smile as bright as the sky. He seems nice enough, Roxas thought. But he couldn’t quite say how he felt about the boy. From a distance he heard the bells ringing. That was the town’s distinctive landmark—the clock tower above the station. The two bells that stuck out from it on each side told time for all the citizens of Twilight Town. Roxas stretched and hopped off his bed. He took off his pajamas—a plain white shirt and capris—and dressed in a white jacket and black pants before leaving his room. Roxas headed to the usual spot—an old storage space under the train tracks. His friends were already there, Hayner and Pence and Olette, chatting about something. “Hey, Roxas,” Olette said, noticing him. “Oh—hi.” Roxas looked back at his friends, each seated in a corner. “Roxas, you gotta hear this, too!” Hayner blurted, a bit loud, as usual. He wore pants and shoes with a camouflage pattern and a black T-shirt emblazoned with a skull, and as always, his wavy, light-brown hair was impeccably styled. “Man, doesn’t it tick you off?” he said to the others. “Yeah, that’s just wrong,” Pence agreed, angrily shaking his head, though his bristly black hair didn’t ruffle in the slightest. It looked coarse enough to hurt if it were to fall in his eyes—maybe that was why he wore it bound up in a hair band. He wore an oversize basketball shirt by Dog Street, featuring the brand’s logo and stylized dog character chasing bones. It suited his sturdy build perfectly. “Seifer’s gone too far this time,” Olette added. Her orange tank top with the four-leaf-clover design at the hip was her favorite shirt. She always regarded everyone with kindness, no matter what. Even Seifer. “I mean, it’s true that stuff’s been getting stolen around town. And we’ve never gotten along with Seifer. So if he wants to think we did it, I can’t really blame him. What’s really driving me nuts is that he’s going around tellin’ everybody that we’re the thieves! Now the whole town is treating us like a bunch of criminals! Have you ever been this mad in your life?” Hayner ranted all in one breath, and jumped down from the wooden crate that made his usual perch, shaking a fist. “’Cos I haven’t. Nuh-uh, never. So, what to do…?” Hayner turned and stared at Roxas, who hadn’t quite been listening. Roxas paused, surprise crossing his face, and then he jumped to his feet. “Um, well… We could find the real thieves. That would set the record straight.” “Hey, that sounds kinda fun,” Pence said, getting out of his chair. Not quite satisfied, Hayner stuck out his lips in a pout. “What about Seifer?” Beside him, Pence rushed to the box that they called the treasure chest and rummaged through it. “First, we gotta clear our names,” Roxas said. “Once we find the real culprit, everyone will get off our back.” “Oh no!” Pence looked up from the box, holding a compact camera. “Now what?” Hayner shot Pence a look, offended by the interruption. “They’re gone! Our are gone!” Roxas, Hayner, and Olette all ran to look in the box. “What? How? All our are gone?” Olette said, and then touched her throat, looking nervously at Roxas. Not only were their things gone—the word itself was gone…? “Stolen…,” Roxas said. “Even the word got stolen?” Hayner nodded and caught his eye. “There’s no way Seifer could’ve done this.” Roxas nodded in reply. “Okay. Time for some recon!” Hayner dashed out of their hangout. Pence and Olette followed him. “All right!” Roxas moved to catch up—and the world began spinning. “…Huh?” The strength drained from his legs, but by the time he realized he was crumpling to the floor, darkness was swallowing his mind. A deep voice spoke from somewhere. “His heart is returning. Doubtless he’ll awaken very soon.” But…Roxas didn’t know who it was. It’s already been one year since I promised him, Naminé thought. Sora was asleep in the flower-bud capsule. It had been a year since he went in. She looked away, down at the floor. Maybe we’re just being used. “…Naminé.” Slowly she turned to face the person addressing her. The man wore a black cloak, the same as those in the organization. There was kindness in the eyes that she glimpsed beneath the hood—eyes that could never lie. She’d spent this past year doing nothing but drawing pictures…but for him, it had been a very hard year. “It won’t be much longer.” His gaze was fixed on the sleeping Sora. Everything he does is for Sora…and for all the worlds. So what about me? What am I doing here? Naminé asked herself. “He seems lonely somehow,” he said.