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[in progress]

Who: Sora, Kairi, Riku
Where 9th floor hallway
When: now-ish?
Rating: ...ffffff G i mean, COME ON
Summary: Sora got exactly what he wanted this year for Christmas, even if he doesn't entirely know it yet.
the Story:

"Ninth floor. Right! I'll be there soon!"

Sora was so excited that he didn't even send the message before bounding down the hallway and to the stairs. He wasn't far off, but he still found himself having to cross a few halls, and when he finally climbed the few flights of stairs there were he was breathing heavily.

But...it was Kairi! How was he supposed to not hurry?

He had hardly ever been on this floor -- no one ever seemed to be there and a lot of the rooms were empty. Still, the floors were built the same way, and of course the seventh room came after four...five...six... Aha! There it was! He came to a skidding halt and knocked excitedly on the door.

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While he'd been exploring the long hallways with endless numbers of rooms, Riku had always stopped at those strange computers, occasionally checking to see if they would magically hold the answers he desperately wanted. Kairi's message had come as a pleasant surprise, and once she'd given him her location, he'd made as much of a beeline as he could. He'd stop every now and then to check her message, seeing if she'd responded and leaving his own comment until he'd reached his goal.

They'd been chatting, waiting for Sora to show up when a series of very distinct knocks interrupted them. Riku smirked; he was partially surprised the spiky haired boy had the patience not to bust down the door. Motioning to Kairi that she didn't need to get up, he went to open the door personally.

"I win." Riku stated, maybe a little more smugly than was necessary.

Kairi hadn't gone very far once she'd woken up in whatever place this was. The room she'd appeared in reminded her of a hotel room in Traverse Town and it was very homey for her. She figured she'd be able to deal with things in whatever this place was as long as she had her best friends and a nice room to come back to.

And then when she'd found out both Riku and Sora were here, she was all the happier.

Riku had arrived first and she'd let him in with a hug, turning to sit down and write that single IOU she'd promised him. She'd just finished giving it to him when she heard the knock at the door. With a smile, she nodded in response to Riku, holding in her giggles as he went to open the door. She couldn't wait to see Sora again.

"Kairi!"

Everything else was lost in Sora's valiant but misplaced effort to show how much he had missed the girl. He realized immediately that something was strange when he threw his arms around her -- had Kairi been this tall? Or...muscley?

No. Something was weird.

He blinked a few times and pulled back; he surprised himself by having to look up at the surprising new arrival. And then his eyes went wide.

"Riku!"

"Second time's the charm." He muttered, torn between being slightly offended and amused at Sora's mistake. "Kairi's about a third my size, if even that. How could you mistake me for her?" It was so ridiculous he had to decide on being amused, and letting his hair cover the curve of his smile he stepped aside and held the door open for Sora. With luck he was safely out of hugging range.

"It's good to see you, too, though it's only been.. what, a day since we last all saw each other?" Sora was enthusiastic on a regular basis, sure, but this was beyond excessive. He glanced at Kairi, silently prompting her to confirm or correct him on how long it'd been since their last meeting.

Kairi was having a hard time holding in her laughter when Sora threw his arms around Riku. It was obvious the brunet thought Riku was Kairi, and the girl wasn't about to say anything until Sora realized his mistake.

Eventually, he did and Kairi, still grinning, stood from her place on the bed and walked over to the boys, waiting for Sora to walk in. She nodded at Riku. For all she knew it had only been a few hours since she'd seen the both of them.

"Hi, Sora!" she chirped, moving nearer once Sora was in the room and wrapping him up in a hug. "It's good to see you again!"

"Hey!" the keyblade bearer protested, indignant. "I didn't know you were here! Why didn't you say something sooner, huh?"

The indignance faded quickly as Kairi threw her arms around him; Sora eagerly returned the gesture. Oh, but if Riku thought he was getting out of the hug, he was wrong -- it was only a few seconds before Sora dragged him into a group hug by one arm.

"I missed you guys! Did you know it's--"

Then he paused. A day? That wasn't right. An amused frown quirked over his face. "Very funny, Riku, like you haven't noticed I was gone for longer than that!"

"We were all going to meet here, anyway; leaving a note for you on the computer when I was about to see you in a few minutes would've just been a waste of time." Not like it should have been a big deal; Sora was acting strange, like Riku had up and disappeared for a long time. Which, to be fair, he had a history of doing, but this time he was totally innocent.

Kairi saved him with her interception, and he reluctantly let himself be pulled into the group hug, awkwardly returning it. It still felt weird being close to them after all that time of being apart.

"It's hard not to notice when your loud mouth isn't around, Sora. How long have you allegedly been gone?" Riku didn't want to seem too concerned and let his paranoia jump the gun, but if Sora was remembering things differently than they were..

Kairi let out a slight breath of air as she felt Sora return the hug and then Riku get pulled in. She moved an arm so she could hold Riku as well, eventually pulling away when she was satisfied they'd embraced long enough for the moment.

She frowned, though, at the mention that Sora had been gone for a while and glanced at Riku in confusion. It hadn't been that long... she hadn't been asleep more than normal, right?

"You weren't gone that long, Sora," she murmured. "I just saw you earlier today..."

The hug continued until Sora was thoroughly satisfied with it; when it ended, he had a particularly confused look on his face. They...weren't kidding around?

This didn't make any sense.

"Earlier today? But I was gone for..." He had to stop a moment to count it out. "...For three months!"

Sora wasn't the only one looking confused. "Kairi's right, it's only been a few hours, or a day, tops. There's no way any of us could have been gone longer than that." Riku couldn't help but feel like his fears were being confirmed, and the strange house was growing more suspicious by the minute. He closed the door, hesitating over the lock before clicking it secure.

"You think this mansion might be doing something?" Even though he directed the question at Kairi, it was open enough for Sora to add his own opinion. But who knew what sort of shape Sora's memory could be in, if he really thought it had been three months. "This could be like Castle Oblivion all over again."

Kairi was worried about Sora too. She didn't like how this was going. Was it going to be like that one year where everyone forgot his name? Would he forget things?

She shook herself inwardly and tried to concentrate on what was being said. She didn't understand anything any better than Riku and she didn't like it. "I don't know. I haven't been far, but... I don't like it at all."

Castle Oblivion? It wasn't the only time he had heard that mentioned... He would have to ask about that later.

Sora frowned, thoughtfully, watching Riku lock the door. He couldn't be wrong, could he...? Had he only been here a day? He thought back to when he first arrived, to all the things that had happened to him since then. His room was lived in and nearly as messy as his room at home. He had made friends. It couldn't have been!

"It does do some strange things," the brunet mused, crossing his arms over his chest. "Making copies of people, things appearing and disappearing... But I don't think it's done that to my memories!"

Riku looked at Sora with a soft expression, knowing how distressing it probably was for him. After all, he'd lost so many memories during that time that having a repeat performance even suggested couldn't be comfortable.

"Well, something has to have happened. It's possible Kairi and I could have been asleep for three months, or who knows what else. At this point, the only thing we can really be sure of is that this place stinks." He paced a bit, glancing around the room to make sure everything was in its place. "I don't like it one bit."

Kairi glanced from one of her friends to the other, wondering what really had happened. She didn't like it at all, not for what it was suggesting to Sora and not for having pulled the three of them away from home so suddenly.

"I guess we just get used to it until we find a way out..."

She let her eyes follow Riku's for a moment, thinking as she looked around. Her mind brought up the most recent things that had happened, and stopped on her journal entry.

The entry and the replies.

"Sora..." Her attention returned to her brown-haired best friend. "How many members of the Organization are here?" Her face showed her wariness. She didn't like the two members who had commented on her journal and she wanted to be sure they stayed far away from her and her best friends.

Sora's eyes widened at the very prospect: asleep for three months? How was that even possible? It wasn't a much better suggestion than him losing memories...but somehow, either seemed less than impossible.

"Yeah," he said, nodding at Riku. "This doesn't make a lot of sense!"

This was one of those moments where he wished Donald was there. The duck magician always seemed to have an answer for things like this, or at least an idea... His and Goofy's absence was really beginning to weigh on Sora, especially at times like these.

"...The Organization!" he said with sudden recognition spurred by Kairi's mind. He had suspected they were up to something, especially the creepy blond guy, but none of them ever seemed particularly interested in causing trouble... Could they be doing something behind the scenes? "I know Axel's here...Saix too, and another one I don't recognize. But..." He paused, trying to recount the people he had met. "Xigbar and Roxas were here too. For a while."

His eyes snapped to Kairi in surprise, not thinking their old foes would be involved in this. His worry only increased. "The Organization? We defeated them, they can't be here." It wasn't like he didn't trust Kairi's word, but he'd seen it collapse with his owns eyes. Was it new Nobodies just taking the name?

But no, Sora confirmed by name that it was the very ones they'd fought before. And the last mentioned was the most troubling. "OK, I'm not entirely sure how it worked, but Roxas should have merged with you. He shouldn't be up and about, even briefly." Nothing made sense, not in the context of everything he knew. If only the King were here; he always seemed to be one step ahead of everyone else, and always knew the right answer.

"Sorry, Kairi, I won't get used to something like this. With the Organization involved, something fishy has to be going down. Both of you, promise me you'll be careful."

Kairi looked back at Riku, a little fear etched into her eyes at that admission. She knew neither of her friends would be happy about the fact that the Organization had tried to contact her, even though Sora seemed to be aware of their presence already. She wasn't entirely sure what to make of that. She wouldn't trust them ever, especially not Axel or Saix and those were the ones who had contacted her.

This talk about Roxas confused Kairi as well, but she brushed it off for the moment. She shook her head at Riku, knowing full well what he meant. She wasn't amused by any of this either.

"I will be," she promised. They didn't need to tell her that. "But... Saix and Axel have already contacted me. I didn't tell them anything, though."

"I know," Sora said. "I know we beat Saix, I remember that, and Axel..." He trailed off and shook his head. "They shouldn't be here, and Roxas either. It doesn't make sense, but...we've just gotta find a way to deal with them!"

He had let this all go on way too long, let himself slack off without any of his friends there to encourage him. Be careful, huh? He couldn't promise that he wouldn't stay out of trouble, especially if the Organization really was behind a lot of this stuff. He had the keyblade -- it was his responsibility, and Riku knew that, of course. What he could promise was that he'd always come out of these things alright, and with Riku ad Kairi there, he was more confident about that than ever.

He nodded at Riku's words. "You've gotta promise the same thing, okay?" Then he glanced from Riku to Kairi. "We're all in this one together, after all!"

Riku frowned in worry at Kairi's admission. "Be especially careful around them. After all, they were the ones that kidnapped you last time; they might be planning something similar again. But we're here this time, so they won't get the chance." He grinned at her, the closest he could get to reassuring.

"I know you don't remember it, but nothing made sense in Castle Oblivion, either. The Organization could manipulate memories and take other people's forms there. So just.. we gotta be extra weary." How strange that he'd so easily taken the lead as a kid, yet now he found it harder than he'd remembered.

Sora's confidence, however, was infectious. It was true, they were all together, fighting side by side instead of desperately seeking each other. He wasn't one to play it safe himself, but he knew the other two wouldn't let him get away without making the same promise. "Right, together. I won't do anything Sora wouldn't do." Which left quite a bit of wiggle room.

Kairi nodded. Shed already made her promise and she wouldn't go back on it, though she was glad Sora was making Riku promise the same thing too. She shot a protesting glance at Riku's last words before a smile crossed her lips. "I won't either."

Her smile slipped a little at the remembrance of Saix and Axel. "I'm worried about Saix and Axel, though." Whatever anyone would say in the future, they both made her uncomfortable, particularly for the reason Riku stated. "I'd rather not go anywhere near them again."

Her eyes moved from one friend to the other and she smiled once again. "Together. Always."

"Castle Oblivion." Sora repeats the name thoughtfully, knowing he's heard it a few times before but never able to remember anything about it. Did someone really manipulate him through his memories? Could they do it again?...

The Organization. Mirrors. The so-called Queen and Duchess that ran the mansion.

It was a lot to think about, and more than he thought he could handle on his own. Donald and Goofy weren't there, but this was just as good. No, better! The three of them -- on every adventure he had gone on, they had been scattered, through different worlds and with different motives. Now, for the first time, that idea that Riku had mentioned so long ago on their makeshift raft was real. A real adventure, with just the three of them. He smiled brightly to think of it, to look at them, to make promises with them.

"Yeah," he said after a while. "All for one and one for all!"

Then he turned to Riku, a protest written all over his face. "Hey, what kinda promise is that supposed to be?"

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