Chapter 9 Castle Oblivion

Hey, do you remember?

The mood in the study of Disney Castle was relatively relaxed and relieved. The adventure was at an end, and the Sora in the datascape had lost all memory of the journey. The monitor of the computer analyzing the journal only displayed the book’s actual contents.

“Hey, ya know…we never did figure out that mysterious message,” Goofy remarked from where he stood next to the king’s chair.

On the other side, Donald let out a long sigh. They had gotten rid of the bugs for good, but they hadn’t accomplished what they’d originally set out to do.

Suddenly, tension was in the air again, and Donald was the first to notice why.

“Wak!”

Riku had appeared on the monitor.

Guys, big news. A new world has shown up inside the journal.

“What do you mean?” Goofy asked curiously.

I’ve found another door leading to extra data. Somebody must have added it once all the other data was restored.

“And if we explore that world…”

…Then we should get some answers about this message.

Riku finished Mickey’s sentence.

Their hurting will be mended when you return to end it.

The strange message appeared on the screen again. Who were “they”? What was hurting them?

“Great!” Mickey started to rise from his seat. “Let’s ask Sora to—”

“When we fixed the data, everything in the journal went back to the way it started, remember?” said Goofy with a hint of sadness. Donald sighed next to Mickey on the other side.

“Which means Sora’s journey through the datascape—it never happened to him. Why, now he’s just the same boy he was before he met any of us,” Jiminy quietly confirmed. Now that the journal had been completely restored, Sora’s memory had returned to how it was before his journey—now, he only remembered the Destiny Islands.

I’m fine; my partition isn’t affected. But Sora—we can’t send him out there when he doesn’t know what’s going on.

Riku looked worried on the screen.

Mickey thought for a moment. “Wait. Hey, Riku,” he said. “Could you help me get back in the datascape one more time?”

Donald, Goofy, and Jiminy all turned toward Mickey.

Pluto licked Sora’s face. He was lying unconscious in an alleyway; only a little bit of light was shining around the corner.

“Unh…” Sora opened his bleary eyes slowly, but what he saw was not the ocean of the Destiny Islands nor the sky overhead, but a town he’d never seen before—and a dog.

“What a dream…,” Sora muttered, then closed his eyes again—until Pluto jumped on his stomach.

“Ungh—this isn’t a dream!”

Sora stood and rubbed his eyes, then took a look around him. What is this place…?

Now that Sora was upright, Pluto looked up at him and wagged his tail happily.

“Oh, boy… Do you know where we are?”

Huh? How did I…? As Sora wondered, Pluto ran on ahead.

Sora followed him into a district paved with brick—Traverse Town. And before him stood a mysterious figure with large black ears.

“Sora, this was the day that your journey began. I know, because I was here, too. It’s time for the truth.”

I don’t have a clue what he’s talking about. Or what this strange town is supposed to be. What’s going on here? “Where am I? How’d I get here? And who are you?” Sora started peppering him with all the questions in his head.

“The name’s Mickey. I’ve come here from another world,” the guy—Mickey, apparently—explained. It wasn’t much of an explanation, though.

“Seriously?” Sora asked.

“Ya see, somebody left me and my friends a mysterious message—‘Their hurting will be mended when you return to end it.’ And you’re the only one with the power to solve the mystery.”

“Me? Why me?” Sora inclined his head quizzically as a large key—a Keyblade—immediately appeared in his hand in a flash of light. “Whoa!” he yelped.

This should have been his first time seeing it, and yet it felt right in his hand, as if he had always owned it. It’s like I’ve missed having it.

“Good. You lost your memory, but not your powers,” Mickey said with a bit of relief. “Will you help me, Sora? I need to know the truth.”

Something stirred in his chest at Mickey’s request.

“Gosh, but this is so weird. I don’t even know you… Err, do I? Something about you does seem vaguely… Nah. So this truth you’re after, does it have to do with me?”

Mickey smiled gently. Sora always had been an open book. “Honestly, I’m not sure. But whatever it is, I get the sense it’s something you need to know.”

“Hmm, fair enough…” I guess I have a lot to do. “All right, Mickey. Lead the way.” It’s like there’s a storm brewing in my chest…I think going with him will help with that, too.

“Thanks, Sora! Now, just hold out that Keyblade of yours.”

Sora did exactly that, while Mickey summoned his own Keyblade and lifted it to the sky. Light shot from the two Keyblades, opening a door, and the two stepped through to the other side.

They emerged into a spacious room built from something that looked like white marble.

The place seemed so cold and lifeless—the truth was here? Sora looked around, but there was no sign of Mickey. Maybe he had gone on ahead?

Seeing no other option, Sora started walking when a man appeared out of nowhere in front of him. He was covered head to toe by a hooded black coat.

“Huh?! Who are you?” Sora instinctively brought up his Keyblade. He couldn’t even see the man’s expression, let alone his face. And yet…was there something familiar about him?

“Me? I’m nobody,” the hooded figure said quietly. “In this place, to find is to lose and to lose is to find. That’s the way of things in Castle Oblivion.”

“Castle Oblivion?” Sora repeated.

The man in black nodded and continued. “Yes… Here you will meet people you know. People you miss.” He handed Sora a card. On it there was a picture of islands in a blue sea— Hey, wait a sec…

“Use that card and press on. You will find the truth that sleeps.” With that, the man in the black coat vanished.

What did he mean, “use that card and press on”? Sora surveyed the room again, but the only way to go was through a door at the top of a nearby staircase.

Sora held the card out to the door, and it opened with a flash.

Beyond it was another white chamber much like this one, but it was littered with strange, unfamiliar blocks. What where they? As Sora puzzled over the question, the guy in black appeared again.

“That card you used will cause you to see people—illusions—who come from Jiminy’s journal—the very same data you fixed.”

“I fixed what? Who’s Jiminy?” Sora didn’t know what he was getting at. Mickey hadn’t been making much sense, either, but this was even worse.

“Oh, my mistake. Did someone press the reset button on your memory? Just the same, you’ll remember the folks you meet here.”

“That makes zero sense. So I’m going to meet these…illusions, and then…”

There must be something I have to do.

But the man in black only had one thing to say, and it wasn’t what Sora expected. “Do whatever you want.”

“Huh?” Sora replied.

“There’s no script you have to follow. The journal’s the closest thing you’ve got, but that doesn’t mean you’ll see the things it says. And, you know, who really cares? Everything that happens here—everyone you meet—is an illusion.”

How is that possible? Nothing is real? So I can do…whatever?

“Anything you want. But remember: the things that you find depend on the actions you take.”

And with that, the black-coated man faded from view again.

“Hey, come back! …He’s gone…”

When Sora walked around exploring the area, he spotted a girl.

Isn’t that…? “Selphie! What are you doing in a place like this?” he called to the girl in the yellow dress. Unlike Mickey and the guy in the black coat, he knew Selphie very well. She was a childhood friend from the islands.

“Uh, hello? I practically live on this island.”

“This…‘island’? You mean ‘castle.’”

“No, I mean ‘island,’ but we can make-believe it’s a castle if you want,” Selphie said, a little confused. So she believed they were home on one of the islands. The man in the black coat had mentioned that the card would show him “illusions,” but Sora couldn’t tell if Selphie was the one seeing illusions, or if she herself was the illusion.

“Sora, you are acting so weird today! And where have you been, anyway? Would you look at the island? We’re up to our ears in blocks!”

I knew that. I’ve heard someone say that before—but where?

“This is totally ruining my day. Do me a favor and find out where the blocks came from.”

“Okay!”

Sora accepted the task pleasantly, and Selphie smiled. “Thanks, and good luck. I expect a thorough investigation.”

Sora nodded to her and walked off. During his work destroying blocks, he saw Wakka with his ever-present blitzball.

“Hey! Sora! Things are gettin’ hairy here, ya? You okay, brudda?”

“Umm… It’s…been an…interesting day?” Sora tilted his head. He’d had this conversation before, hadn’t he?

“That’s great. Hey, could you check up on Tidus for me? He went to investigate the blocks.”

Tidus must have wandered off, too.

“Sure!” Sora answered cheerily here, and then went on his way.

“Thanks, brudda! He can’t have gone too far, but you know him,” Wakka called. As he walked away, the guy in black appeared before Sora again.

“Don’t let your memories rule your actions. Not when there are other possibilities to be found—other stories waiting to unfold.” With that, he left yet again.

What does he mean? Stories different from before… Am I not supposed to look for Tidus?

Suddenly noticing the mound of blocks up ahead, Sora ran over to it with his Keyblade and destroyed it.

Once he was finished, the man in the black coat showed up again. “You found me—I’m impressed.”

Sora was getting more and more dubious.

This time, when the guy disappeared, he was replaced by strange creatures—Heartless.

“Huh? What’s going on?”

Sora managed to take down all the Heartless and, on a hunch, he took care of the blocks on the other side.

Sure enough, he showed up—the guy in the black coat. “More impressive still. But…let’s see if you really have what it takes to keep up.”

More Heartless arrived to take his place, and Sora poured all he had into beating them. Then—for the umpteenth time—the guy in black returned.

“Well, you did it again, Sora.”

…Except this time, his voice was different.

“Wait…Riku? What are you doing here?”

Riku laughed a little beneath his hood at Sora’s stunned reaction. “I’ve got something you need to see.”

“Oh yeah?” Sora asked curiously.

“A hidden truth that isn’t part of your memories,” Riku replied. “I want you to see it. And, I want you to feel it.”

A hidden truth that isn’t part of my memories? I have no idea what that could be. Still…

“Well, okay. I know you wouldn’t ask if it wasn’t important.” Sora gave him a sincere smile.

“Thanks, Sora. Close your eyes.”

Sora quietly did just that. Light flickered across the back of his eyelids, and then he saw a big moon in the sky. He didn’t recognize this place.

Riku was reaching out toward the moon. He closed his hand around it—but of course, he couldn’t really pluck it out of the sky. He turned around, and behind him—was Kairi.

Sora’s eyes blinked open.

“That’s you and Kairi. I was on a journey to find you.”

I remember now. But I don’t quite understand how.

“Darkness had taken ahold of my heart, and Kairi had lost hers completely. But at the end of your journey, Sora, you would have saved us. Now, what did me and Kairi have in common? When you watched—what did you feel?” Riku asked softly.

“Umm…”

“It was ‘hurt.’ We had both lost ourselves, and we were hurting. So what would you have done?”

What kind of question was that? There was only one answer.

“Help you, of course! I would have figured out how to take the hurt away.”

Sora couldn’t see beneath Riku’s hood, but he could tell his friend was wearing a warm little smile.

“I thought you’d say that. And you’re right, you would. You will.”

“Hmm… So what’s with the sneak preview?” Sora crossed his arms and thought.

Riku took a step closer. Sora peered into the hood curiously, but he couldn’t quite see the look on Riku’s face.

“I just wanted you to see that you always make the right choices. On the road ahead, more than one truth will come to light. You’ll forget things, lose things that you care about, and it won’t always make sense. It may hurt so bad you’ll feel like you’re about to lose yourself. But you won’t. Not you. You’re like a sponge. No matter how much pain they throw at you, you’ll suck it up, squeeze it out, and leave things a little better. Just follow your heart, and you can change lives. You don’t have to do anything special. Just do what you do.”

It’s always a little hard to follow what Riku’s talking about…but I know what he’s getting at. Everything will work out if I keep following my heart as I always have and never give in.

“All right.”

“Take care, Sora.”

Sora gave a firm nod, and Riku vanished.

Suddenly, the world shimmered and blurred.

Next thing he knew, Sora was back in that big, pure white hall, and this time, the stranger in the black coat—the one who wasn’t Riku—appeared as if he’d been waiting for Sora.

“Well? Did you have fun hanging with the ghosts?”

“Hey, don’t say ‘ghosts’! Sure, something was a little off, but they’re still my friends.” Sora bristled a little.

The figure in black seemed disappointed. “You don’t say? What were their names again?”

“Pfft, that’s easy. There was— What…? No, no, I know them! Why can’t I remember?”

That’s right, he couldn’t remember. I have no idea who I just met, or what I did.

“Like I said, everything in this castle is an illusion. Your actions may lead to true endings or paradoxes, and each outcome will stay with you in the form of a card. But once the illusions vanish, you’ll forget all about your little reunion as if it never happened.”

“What?” That’s horrible. If this guy’s the reason I’m forgetting, I won’t let him get away with it.

“Hey, no big deal. The fact that you can’t remember them just means they weren’t important to begin with.”

“That’s a lie! Of course my friends are important to me! Okay, so maybe I forgot who they are…and what happened…but it’ll come back to me. Just watch!”

“Hmm. If you say so.” The stranger snorted derisively and pulled out a set of cards. This time there were five of them.

“More cards?”

Sora looked at the cards. The first one depicted a nighttime townscape—he had a hunch he had seen it before somewhere. The second had a hedge maze in a garden. No clue about that one. On card number three was an arena where people could test their strength—no dice there, either. The fourth card depicted a palace in the desert. It didn’t ring any bells. And on the fifth and final card, a castle loomed ominously. His heart sped up just looking at the pictures on the cards.

“All of these were created from data in the journal. And all of them will show you more illusions. But from now on, they won’t be your friends. You’re fresh off the island, which makes them total strangers. Here’s a fun little thought: The folks you’re about to meet? You can use and abuse them all you like.”

“Huh?” You can’t do that…not to anyone.

But the man in black wasn’t done yet.

“What do you care? They’re all strangers, and illusions at that. Just empty bits of data. They can’t tell what’s real. They’ll look at this castle and see the world they call home. Anyway, the truth would be wasted on them. They’re only there until they’re not. See where I’m going with this? You can break the little hearts they don’t have, and forget right away. No hurt feelings, no baggage. You don’t have a heart. It’s one-hundred-percent guilt-free.”

“No, it’s not.” Sora refuted the idea flat-out.

“Oh?” asked the man in black.

“I could never be mean to somebody I just met,” Sora replied firmly. “If I hurt them, I’d regret it. And…even if I didn’t remember what I did, the regret would stay with me. That’s what you mean by hurt feelings, right? Why would I want to carry around that kind of hurt?”

The stranger seemed to be smiling beneath his hood. “And with that, you’ve arrived at the first question,” he murmured, fading away again.

“Huh?” I have no idea what it is he’s after. But…

Sora looked at the five cards left in his hands. He was a bit nervous about using them to meet people he didn’t know—but it also sounded fun.

Sora took the first card—the one of the town at night—and approached the door.

On the other side, in Traverse Town, Sora found some triplets safe and sound.

And yet…

The moment he returned, he could no longer recall who he had encountered a little while ago, or what he had done. His memory was a complete blank.

“Why do I feel so funny?” Sora pressed down on his chest in the hall. Something hurt inside. “I know…I miss them.”

His chest—his heart—ached with loneliness. But if he was forgetting all about everyone he met, then he shouldn’t miss anyone. That meant that at least some memories lingered. Or maybe it was that even if the memories were gone, a sliver of those feelings remained.

Given the right opportunity, he suspected it could all come back to him. For some reason, Sora felt like he had gained courage.

“Okay, let’s do this!”

He held up the second card—with Wonderland, the labyrinthine garden on it—and offered it to the door.

In Wonderland, too, Sora encountered various people, answered several questions, and even had the queen put him on trial.

And when he finally returned, the guy in the black coat showed himself.

“So, how was your time with—I’m sorry, who was it again?”

“You know full well I can’t remember,” Sora answered somewhat nonchalantly. It’s fine if I forget. It’ll come back to me again.

“Heh. You seem pretty calm,” said the man in black, and not exactly kindly. “Guess you decided they weren’t worth stressing over. Out of sight, out of mind, right?”

“Wrong. I forgot them, like you said, but I can still feel them. I feel a lot of things. Frustrated… Lonely… You said there would be no hurt feelings. But I am hurting.”

Sora could sense that the man was watching him intently beneath his hood.

“But…that’s a good thing, right? Each time the memories slip away, they leave a hole. They leave hurt. But that hurt is the key to getting the memories back.”

“…Right on schedule,” said the stranger, to no one in particular. With that, he disappeared again.

Then, Sora held up the third card—the one depicting the arena, Olympus Coliseum.

There, Sora fought several battles, and met some friends. All of them were strong, he thought.

Upon returning to the hall, though, all of it was gone.

The loneliness, that awful loneliness, was being carved deeper and deeper into his heart.

The guy in the black coat greeted him once more. “The sadness of knowing you forgot someone who matters—that’ll gnaw at you forever. And you believe carrying around that kind of hurt will bring back the memories you lost? Really, Sora?”

“That’s the theory.” Sora nodded resolutely.

The man in the coat laughed out loud.

“What’s so funny?”

“I just can’t believe you fell for it so easily.”

“Fell for what?” Sora asked, somewhat angrily.

“I told you when you arrived,” he quietly explained. “In this place, to find is to lose and to lose is to find. Well, you’ve lost your memories and found hurt in return. And by deciding that hurt was the key to remembering, you gave up all hope of ever being free from it!”

Hurt…isn’t something you can just throw away. Of course it isn’t. If Sora lost his loneliness, the memories really would be gone forever.

“Don’t you see? The hurt owns you now, Sora. It’s a wound that will never mend. That hole in your heart will grow bigger and bigger until darkness finally claims it!”

Do sadness, loneliness, and all those other painful emotions really lead to darkness? “So this was all some trick to drag me into the darkness?”

“Afraid so. And all it took was a handful of illusions. Your heart was just way too easy to break.”

“Yeah, we’ll see who breaks first!”

Sora had so many questions, but the man faded away before Sora could ask them.

His anxiety grew worse. Was this hurt actually a dark emotion? Either way, he had to keep pressing on to find out.

Sora held out the fourth card—Agrabah, the desert palace—to the door.

In Agrabah, Sora found a parrot hiding between some blocks.

When he came back, he forgot it all over again.

“It’s not too late to run.”

“What?”

As always, the guy in the black coat had arrived with his cryptic comments.

“You can still be free of the hurt. Just tell yourself you forgot them because they don’t really matter. You’ll have no one to miss. No cause for loneliness. No hurt to keep eating away at your heart.”

Sora clenched his fist and held it tightly in front of his chest. This hurt in my chest—if it goes away, then I won’t be sad anymore…?

“It’s your call, Sora. Cling to the memories you’ve lost and the hurt they bring until it drags you into the darkness. Or…you could just let it all go. Be free. Be happy! Think it over.” After he finished his piece, he was gone.

“Wait!” Sora wanted to go after him, but he was always too slow.

He didn’t know what to do. There was only one card left. If he used it, he would meet someone else, forget them, and then experience another loss. That loss would hurt his heart. And the pain from those wounds would eventually overwhelm him, and he would succumb to the darkness.

Was his only salvation to let the pain go?

…ora? Sora! Can you hear me?

Sora had almost worried himself into a mental dead end when he heard Mickey’s voice.

“M…Mickey? Is that you? Where are you?”

Sorry, I’m still trying to get to your position. Sending my voice is all I can manage for now.

Sora decided to pour out all his feelings to him. “That’s okay. Hey, Mickey? I’ve got a problem here. I keep forgetting people in this place. And this guy in black—he says if I dwell on what I’ve lost, the hurt will take over.”

Hmm… I see. So, will you let go of the people you’ve forgotten?

As Mickey asked this, two people appeared faintly before Sora. They weren’t in his memories, though. He couldn’t remember them.

You may not remember them, but they think of you as a friend.

He heard a very distinctive voice over Mickey’s.

Wak! We’ve been on a ton of adventures together!

The next voice was easygoing and comforting.

A-hyuck! And even if you don’t know who we are, Sora, you’ll always be extra special to us.

A sudden warmth spread across Sora’s chest, hearing those two. “But… Wait, how does that work?”

Ask your heart. What are you feeling right now?

“I feel… Well, I can’t remember who they are. I don’t think we’ve ever met. But I feel like…we belong together.”

They seemed so, so familiar. Sora could feel courage and strength welling up within him.

Memories can disappear, but feelings don’t—not even when your data was reset. Somewhere inside your heart, the adventures you shared with them in the datascape live on. And ya know what? So do all the folks those cards showed you.

Sora thought it over. This pain in my heart is the same as that warmth I felt just now…? As he mulled it over, the two vanished.

Uh-oh! Looks like I’ve used up a little too much of my power. I’ll be there soon, Sora—I promise. Just hang on!

“Mickey?!” Sora called out, but there was no response. He was alone again—and very lonely. Was this feeling another kind of hurt? Would this hurt drag him into the darkness…?

He still had one card remaining. The creepy, towering castle—Hollow Bastion.

There was nowhere to go but forward.

In Hollow Bastion he fought two enemies and won, and the moment he came back, it was all gone. The man in black met Sora as if he had been lying in wait for him.

“You’ve used the last of the cards. I’d ask if you enjoyed the trip, but we both know you’ve forgotten. Bet you feel pretty empty.”

“Anything but. I don’t remember who I met, but I remember meeting them. And now that I’ve forgotten… I miss them.” Sora placed a hand lightly on his chest. He lowered his gaze slightly. Why can’t I remember?

“And so you hurt. Well, let’s hope you didn’t forget my warning. That hurt will drag you into the darkness. You have to cut it loose.”

“…No. The hurt is what reminds me I’ve forgotten. It’s proof there’s something there, something…important. I won’t run from it. It’ll stay in my heart until the day I remember again.”

I can’t get rid of my pain. It’s what lets me remember, deep down in my heart.

“You’ll be lost in the darkness long before then.”

“But if I put aside the hurt, I’ll lose my only ties to people I cared about. No. My mind’s made up—I want to carry this hurt with me. I can be free of it the day I remember, but until then, it’s what holds together the pieces I left behind…and I accept it.”

The stranger’s shoulders were heaving up and down with fury. “You…accept it? Heh! Don’t make me laugh! It’s time you learned what real hurt feels like!”

The world was engulfed in a white light…

Sora found himself in a new, unknown world. There was nothing there but a cold, white floor hovering in the gloom. It brought a chill to his skin.

The man in the black coat was right in front of him with a Keyblade in each hand. In the span of an instant, he closed the gap between them and attacked Sora with both of them.

He landed a solid blow that knocked Sora away. For a moment, Sora felt pain—but not only physical pain. It was affecting his heart, too. What was this…?

With a shout, the man created columns of light around him to hit Sora again.

Maybe…the pain I felt then was the hurt of someone’s heart? I feel it even more clearly than the pain in my body. It’s hard to endure, but…something about it is almost comfortingly familiar, too.

It’s a special hurt, born from the same thing as my lost memories.

I want to run away from it. But I won’t.

Sora gripped his Keyblade tightly. “Haaah!”

Gathering his strength, Sora poured all his emotions into the attack. He landed hits, knocked his opponent back, and fired off spells.

But the black-clad man just got up again, floated into the air, and unleashed an incessant barrage of white light.

Sora evaded every one of the glowing orbs until he could get close again, and then he swung his Keyblade upward.

“—Nnh!” At last, the man in black fell to his knees. “Come on, Sora—do it! Finish me off,” he gasped. Sora destroyed the man’s Keyblades, then extended a hand to him.

“What are you…?” He rejected Sora’s help and stood on his own. “Ah! Hmm. I guess you’ve seen through the last illusion: me. I’m data, just like the rest. Not even worth the effort, right? No point in destroying what never really existed. Heh.”

However, Sora shrugged awkwardly with a little smile.

“For an illusion, you pack a punch!” And the pain of those attacks showed me something… “You weren’t kidding about showing me some real hurt.”

The man had nothing to say in reply to Sora’s grin.

Maybe that shouldn’t have come as a surprise. Sora continued speaking, more serious this time. “But the hurt I just felt is more than bumps and bruises… While we were fighting, I could feel the hurt in you.”

Sora recalled what he had felt in the middle of their battle. It was a different sort of pain. He didn’t know what made it special, but it was special all the same. That hurt had linked them.

“Sharp, intense pain…but familiar, somehow—almost like it was my own. It felt like we’d connected—like we shared the same hurt. If it brings me closer to people like that, then a little hurt can’t be all that bad.” Sora smiled at him again.

“‘Can’t be all that bad?’ Heh. I give up. Here.” The man in the black coat tossed a card to Sora. On it was an oddly shaped building Sora had never seen before. “You pass, Sora. You understand hurt. Now, use this to find the truth.”

“What do you mean, ‘pass’?” Sora inclined his head, looking at the card.

“My role was to see if you were ready to take ownership of the hurt inside you. And now that role is done. Nothing left for me to do but…go away.”

“Go home?” Sora didn’t know what he meant by go “away.” Even if he was an illusion, going away sounded kinda…awful.

“I don’t know if I have one, but…there’s a place I’d like to be.” For the first time, the man’s tone softened.

“Where?” Sora asked.

Instead of answering, the man in the black coat approached—and merged with him.

“Huh?”

Sora was shocked as the man disappeared into him. But at that moment, when they became one, he felt a wave of nostalgia. It was most likely his memory—the recollection of the stranger in black.

He saw a place he had wanted to call home—a place he had once called home. The home he’d lost. A town at twilight; his first and last…

…summer vacation.

He heard the voice of the youth who had worn the black coat. In the back of his mind, he saw the boy smiling—Roxas.

“Rest easy… Your hurt can be mine now,” Sora whispered, then gazed at the final card. Time to get going.

“Sora!” someone called.

Sora looked up, and running toward him was…

“Mickey!”

“I finally caught up to ya! Sorry I’m late. I didn’t mean for you to do all the work.”

“Don’t even worry about it. Here, check this out!” Sora showed the last card to Mickey. “This card is supposed to lead to the truth.”

“Hmm… Then maybe we’ll finally find out where that mysterious message came from.”

“Let’s find out—together!”

Sora held the card up to the door, and the light it released washed over both him and Mickey.

Standing before them was a young girl with golden hair. Behind her was a large, flower-shaped capsule.

“Who are you?”

Sora was confused—she was so familiar. It was the same as when he met Mickey. There was no way they had met, and yet he felt as if he had fond memories of her.

“Nice to meet you. My name is Naminé. You don’t know me, but I know you.”

“Um…I don’t really follow,” Sora replied, perplexed.

“I’ll explain,” said Mickey. “At one point, you lost all of your memories, Sora. Naminé here is the person who saved you.”

“Wow, then I owe you a lot!” Sora said with a smile.

Naminé shook her head in a slightly melancholy manner. “No, you really don’t. It’s true I put your scattered memories back together, but I’m also the one who took them apart in the first place. Not only that, the bugs that appeared in Jiminy’s journal—those were my fault, too.”

She lowered her gaze.

“What do you mean?”

Instead of answering Mickey’s question, Naminé extended her right hand into the air, and a glowing orb rose from her palm. “It all began with these memories that were sleeping way down deep in Sora’s heart.”

“These are my memories?” Sora asked, looking at the fragment of memory Naminé had projected. Even after she lowered her hand, the twinkling fragment hovered in place. It was bright, almost too bright. So bright that touching it might even sting.

“No. Not yours. These belong to people connected to you.”

“What? Isn’t it weird for somebody else’s memories to be inside me?”

Shouldn’t I only have the memories of things I experienced myself?

“Right, it’s not usually possible. When I first found them while repairing your memory, I thought I’d made a mistake. But all the evidence I found proved they belong in your heart, where they’ve been sleeping a long…long time. One day, Sora will have to call them to the surface. They’re important memories…but very dangerous ones.”

Sora didn’t really understand what Naminé was saying.

“Dangerous how?” Mickey asked, while Sora was trying to make heads or tails of it.

“These memories are too painful. Handled the wrong way, they could damage Sora’s heart—even break it. I needed you to find a way to face that kind of hurt. That’s why I left the message.”

Their hurting will be mended when you return to end it.

That was the message in the journal.

“That was you?”

This time, Naminé nodded at Mickey. “When I unraveled Sora’s and the others’ memories, you remember it also erased the words from Jiminy’s journal? Well, that shows how deeply the journal and Sora are connected. When I took Sora’s memories apart, they stayed in his heart and in the journal even after the text was gone. That’s why you were able to render them as data.”

Sora still had no clue what Naminé was saying as he watched Mickey listen to her story with some concern.

“But the data was a mess because of all the bugs. Jiminy never wrote any of that stuff down,” Mickey said.

“No…that was me. When I added these memories to the journal, I added ‘hurt.’ I thought that maybe if you fought the bugs that sprung from these memories, you might learn to face the hurt in the memories themselves.” Naminé lowered her gaze again. This seemed to be difficult for her.

“Gosh, you sure went through a lot of trouble.”

“I’m sorry.” Naminé bowed her head. “I wish I could have told you all this in person. But the real me is gone now.”

The “real me”…? So where’s the real Naminé? Um, and if this is a world inside some data, then…huh? Then where—who is the real me? I’m this guy Sora, and Sora is me, but then this is a world made from memories, so…?

Sora let out a long sigh, then smiled. “Um…guys? This is all way over my head… Am I dumb?”

Naminé laughed. “Of course not. After all, you did it. You learned how to face the hurt.”

“I did?”

Sora cocked his head to one side. While it was true that he hadn’t decided to cast aside his hurt during the fight with the boy in the black coat, he still didn’t know how to face it down. All he had done was decide to hold on to it.

“Some people think pain is something you can just wipe away—and sometimes, maybe, you can. But not all pain can be erased. The only way to deal with it is to accept it head-on.”

Maybe they’re the same thing—accepting it head-on and choosing not to throw it away.

Naminé continued. “And if the hurt is too great for you to bear it alone—well, then you turn to a friend close to your heart.”

“Because the hurt will bring us closer together and make us stronger,” Sora said quietly, taking in what she was saying. He looked up at the light hovering before him.

“Right, let’s give it a try!” he declared.

Naminé gave Sora a confused look.

“With the memories you found. I’m ready to accept them, no matter how painful they are.”

“Sora…”

Naminé gave him a brief nod. Before Sora could reach out his hand, Mickey ran up to him. “Wait! I’ll join you.”

“Okay!” Sora turned toward Mickey and nodded. He might not be able to handle them on his own, but with the two of them, it was sure to work.

“Thank you.” Naminé also looked up at the memory fragment. “Touch this, and the memories locked inside will flow into your hearts.”

Sora and Mickey linked hands, and then reached out toward the light. The radiance from the memories was almost too strong, and pain coursed into them the moment they touched it. It hurt so much, it was hard to breathe. Their chests were getting tighter and tighter.

“Stay strong, Sora!”

At Mickey’s encouragement, Sora squeezed his eyes shut and clenched his teeth. Eventually, behind his eyelids a hazy image of two people appeared through the light. Their backs were turned to him.

“Who…?”

Both were wearing black coats. One was a guy who looked just like the one Sora had fought earlier. The other was a redhead he didn’t know. Roxas and Axel.

“Ah!” Mickey cried in astonishment.

“These are hidden truths that Sora has been keeping locked away deep inside him. Remember, these memories aren’t his,” Naminé said quietly.

The duo disappeared, to be replaced by another pair. One was Naminé, the other a black-haired girl with a black coat like the first two. She looked a lot like Naminé. Right—her name was Xion.

He didn’t think he knew those four, but Sora felt a painfully wistful yearning, and a grief that threatened to crush his chest.

Is this hurt…?

“These people are waiting for Sora—the only one who can put an end to their hurt. DiZ told me he did something inside you during the year you were asleep. I asked him what, and all he would say was that he was ‘clearing his conscience.’ Sora must be the key to saving the people you saw—”

The other Naminé and the black-haired girl vanished from the white light, and this time three more strangers surfaced: a young man, a woman, and the third…was a boy who looked a lot like the first young man. Terra, Aqua—and Ven.

“—and these ones, too.”

“It can’t be!” Mickey cried out again.

“Maybe you know how much they’re hurting.”

Sora opened his eyes and saw that Naminé was gazing at him quietly.

“These three were keys, too. connected to the truth behind the Keyblade. And they’re still connected, Sora, somewhere way down deep inside of you.”

“Funny. I feel as though…I’ve met them,” Sora whispered. He didn’t remember, though.

“Yes, two of them, you have met. As for the third…I never realized it, but…you and he share a very special connection.”

I don’t get it, but I can still feel the connection.

“Naminé. You said Sora has to call these memories to the surface. Is it time?” Mickey asked. It was possible that he, too, knew something about the trio.

“I can’t say for sure. But I do know a day will come when they must rise from their sleep. And then the only one who can save them…will be Sora.” Naminé smiled at him.

“The bond they all share—that’s gonna be the key, right?” Mickey let go of Sora’s hand and looked up at Naminé. “Don’t worry, Naminé. I’ll make sure I pass this on to Sora—you know, the one in the outside world!”

“Mm, please do.”

Mickey nodded deeply to Naminé.

“Well—”

“Just a second.” Sora interrupted Naminé’s farewell.

She tilted her head to the side. “Huh?”

“Our promise… Your promise to the me I don’t know. You kept it, right?” he asked.

Her gaze turned distant. “I may be gone, but my promises to him are forever. And anyway…I owe this much. For all the…all those people that I hurt.” She shook her head sadly.

“So what happens to you? The one that’s right here?”

“I’m really just data made to pass along a message. I shouldn’t…exist right now in this journal at all. And now, the record of me will disappear. But when you pass my message on to the other Sora, just remember to tell him the things that you’ve seen…and that you’ve felt. If you do that, then we’ll be at rest—her, and me too.”

The other Sora, the other Naminé who was gone…and all the other people who’d made him who he was.

“Along with everybody connected to Sora… Naminé, you got it.” Now, Sora knew the truth.

“Okay.” Naminé smiled at him.

“Oh yeah! I almost forgot. I have a message for you, too.” Sora gazed at Naminé.

Somehow, he knew he had to tell her this, no matter what.

“Thank you.”

She was startled at first, but her expression soon turned to a smile.

And then, still smiling, Naminé silently vanished.

“And so ended our journey to connect ‘those’ memories with ‘these.’”

I wanted to tell you right away…about memories from the past that sleep within you,

and about the pieces that will tie you to your future.

Sora, Riku, Kairi… The truth behind the Keyblade has found its way through so many people, and now I know that it rests in your hearts. Sora… You are who you are because of those people, but they’re hurting, and you’re the only one who can end their sadness. They need you.

It’s possible that all your journeys so far have been preparing you for this great new task that’s waiting for you. I should have known there were no coincidences—only links in a much larger chain of events.

And now the door to your next journey is ready to be opened.

—Yen Sid, I think we’re finally close to figuring out where Ven’s heart is.

—Is that so? Then that leaves only Terra.

—Right. And we’ve gotta save all three of them.

—Hmm… The question is: What does Xehanort intend to do next?

—Xehanort? But his two halves are gone. There was Ansem, who commanded the Heartless, and Xemnas, who commanded the Nobodies. Didn’t Sora defeat them both?

—Correct, those two met their end. However, therein lies exactly our problem. Their destruction now guarantees the original Xehanort’s reconstruction. Xehanort’s heart, once seized by his Heartless half, is now free. And his body, which had become his Nobody, has been vanquished. Both halves will now be returned to the whole. In short…this means Master Xehanort will return.

—And you think…you think that maybe he’s gonna try something?

—A man like Xehanort will have left many roads open.

—Well, it doesn’t matter what he cooks up. Me and Sora, we’ll be ready. And Riku, too!

—Yes, they are indeed strong. But…not true Keyblade Masters, like you. Tell me…would a single one of you suffice if what you faced was not a single one of him?

—What? What do you mean?”

—Mickey, please summon Sora hither? Riku as well.

—Of course, but…why?

—To show us the Mark of Mastery.