Kingdom Hearts II Vol 1

by Tomoco Kanemaki

  “The Ghost Train Mystery!”

  Pence shrugged. “Yeah, everyone knows about wonder number six.”

  “Well, I didn’t!” snapped Hayner, crestfallen that their hard-found scoop wasn’t much of one.

  “Where’s the train run?” Roxas asked Pence.

  “They say you can see it from Sunset Hill.”

  Sunset Hill, at the edge of the terrace, was famed as the best viewing spot for Twilight Town’s sunsets.

  “Well, what’s the mystery?” Roxas wondered.

  “They say the train is always empty…,” Pence said in his creepy voice again. “No driver, no conductor, no passengers—not a soul aboard.”

  “It comes at nightfall,” Olette added.

  “Let’s go check it out!”

  They nodded at Hayner’s directive and headed for Sunset Hill.

  From up on Sunset Hill, they could see the sun sinking into the distant sea. To see the train tracks they had to go to the edge of a steep precipice, which was cordoned off with a low fence.

  “If the rumors are true, it’ll be here any minute,” Hayner said, plopping himself down on the ground.

  Beside him, Roxas lay on his stomach, dozing off. Olette was stretched out on the ground, too, while Pence slowly sat down with his legs extended in front of him.

  “We’ve gotta make it to the beach next year,” Olette murmured, watching the sunset.

  Hayner leaned forward. “Yeah. Better get jobs the second vacation starts.”

  Next year… Right. Next year there would be another summer vacation. This one was almost over, but they’d have next year to try again.

  Letting his mind wander, Roxas found that the perfectly obvious fact cheered him up.

  “Oh, look. A bunch of slackers. What are you even doing out here?”

  The four friends turned at the sudden voice to see Seifer.

  “What d’you care?” Hayner retorted, sounding enormously annoyed.

  “I don’t. Tell me anyway.”

  “We’re waiting for the ghost train,” Pence said without a care in the world.

  “Waiting for the ghost train?” Seifer burst out laughing.

  It was mean laughter, and Roxas couldn’t stand it. He got to his feet and glared daggers at Seifer.

  “Why does looking at you always tick me off?” Seifer remarked, cracking his neck.

  “I dunno. Maybe it’s destiny.”

  “Destiny, huh? In that case, let’s be friends.” Strangely, Seifer’s expression softened. “I don’t feel like cooperating with destiny.”

  “When have you ever cooperated with anything?” Hayner said.

  Seifer brought his fist to his chest and cracked a smile, then turned away.

  “Seifer…?” Olette called after him.

  “I know. Tomorrow.” Seifer waved without looking back at them and ambled off.

  Then, from the distance, Roxas heard a train whistle.

  “There it is!” he cried, running up to the edge.

  “…Roxas?” Hayner said quietly from behind him.

  “The train! It’s here!”

  There it was, slowly passing before him. Unlike the trains that went around town, this one was violet. He could see through the windows in the very front to where the driver should have been—and no one was there.

  “It’s true!”

  The train plunged into a tunnel and disappeared from sight.

  “There’s really no one aboard…” Roxas whirled back to the others. “What’s the catch? There’s gotta be some dumb explanation, right?”

  His friends didn’t look at him—they exchanged glances with one another. Hayner seemed dubious, Pence a bit surprised, and Olette worried.

  And none of them said a word.

  “So it’s real, right? Let’s go to the station!” Roxas broke into a run.

  “Slow down, will ya, Roxas?!” Hayner chased after him, with Pence and Olette close behind.

  On the hill lit by the sunset glow, a man in a black cloak appeared from a cloud of static and silently trailed Roxas and his friends.

  When they ran up the steps to Sunset Station, Roxas was completely winded, barely even remembering to breathe.

  The violet train was stopped at the platform.

  “Let’s check out the inside!” As Roxas lurched for the train doors, Hayner caught his arm. “What’s wrong?!”

  “Um… You’ll get hurt.” Hayner was looking past him at the train—or rather, at the empty space above the track.

  Roxas looked back again and saw that there was no train. “But—huh?!” What? It was just there!

  “The train will be arriving shortly.” The station announcement echoed over the platform. A local train came in and eased to a stop. The doors opened, and passengers stepped out, including Fuu and Rai.

  “A train came in from the beach, and it didn’t have a driver. Right?” Roxas said blankly.

  “Let’s go,” Pence said, more for his own benefit than anyone else’s.

  “But you saw it, right?”

  “C’mon.”

  Beside them, Hayner shook his head and pushed Roxas toward the local train.

  “Didn’t you see it?!” Roxas protested.

  “…No. We didn’t.” Hayner’s voice was low as he shoved Roxas aboard.

  The other train…had never been there. Roxas was the only one who had seen it.

  The bell signaling departure rang, and Olette and Pence hopped into the train car, too. The train took them back into the center of town.

  None of them spoke during the train ride, nor as they disembarked at Central Station and walked outside.

  Finally Hayner spoke up, trying to shake off the gloomy mood. “Well, time to go home and work on that project.”

  “The rumors were all bogus. The end,” Pence said with a worried glance at Roxas.

  “We can still make it sound good if we write about all the work we did,” Olette pointed out gently.

  Roxas stared miserably at the ground and mumbled, “But what about the last one—the seventh wonder?”

  “Who cares?!” snapped Hayner.

  Roxas ignored him. “C’mon, Pence,” he said, approaching the stockier boy.

  “Fine. Whatever!” Hayner angrily ran off.

  Olette stared after him and then turned. “Roxas…?” she said anxiously.

  But Roxas turned his back on her and stared pointedly at Pence.

  “It’s at the haunted mansion.” Pence sighed.

  “The haunted mansion?”

  Pence and Olette exchanged a look and followed Hayner.

  I don’t get it… Why is everyone acting like this? Roxas thought. The train was there. It stopped at the platform. Does this really mean no one else could see it?

  Then why was I the only one who could?

  He didn’t understand any of it.

  As the sun’s red glow streamed over the plaza in front of the station, Roxas took off for the haunted mansion.

  Naminé had finished her drawing of a redheaded girl in the middle of her sketchbook page.

  She set down her pastels with a small sigh and raised her head.

  The room was covered with the drawings she’d done in the past year. They were all scenes she had come to know from Sora’s memory, even though she had nothing like that of her own.

  I have no memories of my own…

  There was no breeze, and yet she had sensed the curtains stirring. Naminé stood up.

  When she peeked out beyond the edge of the curtains, she saw three people outside.

  She quietly closed her eyes and thought of him—the one who was like another version of herself.

  Do I feel sorry for him…? Then should I feel sorry for myself?

  No…there’s no reason to pity me. I got to meet Sora, after all.

  But, he

  Something distorted the air in the white room. And then…Naminé vanished.

  He ran all the way to the mansion, hardly pausing for breath. Out there it was as hush
ed as ever.

  Nothing was there… Nothing was going to happen. Roxas stared at the gate with its enormous lock.

  “You know…,” a voice said from behind him.

  Roxas jumped. “Ack! …Wh—? Pence?”

  It was his friend standing there.

  “We were gonna check out the mansion tomorrow. It’s the most suspicious place, after all.” Pence acted as if nothing at all was amiss, and he was staring up at the house, too.

  “Oh. Right…” Roxas hung his head, a little depressed to hear yet another thing he’d missed.

  “Even Seifer’s gang is gonna help.”

  Surprised, Roxas looked up. “Seifer?”

  “Yeah.” Pence laughed a bit awkwardly and shrugged. “Hayner asked him to.”

  Roxas hadn’t imagined that Seifer would help with all that. Actually—he hadn’t imagined that Hayner would even ask him to.

  Looking at Pence’s weak smile, Roxas began to feel bashful, and he turned back to the mansion. He could see white curtains fluttering in a second-story window.

  “So, Pence… What’re we looking for?”

  “Um, well, they say there’s a girl who appears in a second-story window, even though nobody lives here.”

  Roxas stared harder up at the window.

  “Roxas…”

  He thought he heard a girl’s voice from somewhere.

  It was that girl—Naminé.

  “Roxas?” He heard Pence’s voice layered on top of hers. The world warped and twisted.

  But it didn’t feel unpleasant like usual.

  Naminé was calling him…

  Naminé gazed down the long table. Roxas was gradually being “drawn” there, like a painting. Although she wasn’t sure that was the right word.

  But to say he was being painted into the room was closer to the truth than to say he was simply appearing.

  “Naminé?”

  He called her by name, and she replied with a silent smile. He seemed a tiny bit startled as he scanned the room, and his eyes fell on a particular drawing. “This is…me? And that guy Axel…?”

  It was Naminé’s drawing of Roxas and Axel, standing side by side.

  “You’re best friends,” she said.

  Right. Those two had been friends—well, Axel believed they still were. Roxas was his only friend and his best. And Axel was the same for Roxas—probably.

  “Cut it out.” Roxas shook his head.

  “Don’t you want to know the truth about who you really are?”

  I would, Naminé thought. If I were him, I’d want to know. Why was I created? Why am I here? I did want to know once.

  “Well, no one knows that better than me,” Roxas retorted.

  Naminé looked down. “Of course…”

  “But…I don’t get what’s been happening lately.”

  At that, she pointed to one of the pictures on the wall—a drawing of Sora with Donald and Goofy. “You know those three, don’t you?”

  “Oh yeah…Sora, Donald, and Goofy,” he murmured, examining the picture. “They’re from the dreams.”

  Naminé took in a big breath and spoke slowly. “About a year ago…some things happened, and I had to take apart the memories chained together in Sora’s heart. But now, I’m putting them all back, just the way they were. It’s taken me a long time, but pretty soon Sora will be his old self again. The process is affecting you, too.”

  “You mean…the dreams?”

  “Yes. You and Sora are connected.”

  Directly behind Roxas there was a drawing of him and Sora, holding hands. Naminé’s eyes fixed on it as she continued. “In order for Sora to become wholly himself again…he needs you.”

  Because Sora hasn’t been whole since then. Since the moment you were released from his heart.

  “Me? What for?” Roxas said.

  “You hold half of what he is. He needs you, Roxas.”

  Downcast, she thought, But who needs me?

  “Naminé… Who are you?”

  She raised her eyes at him again. “…I’m a witch with power over Sora’s memories and those of the people around him.”

  Roxas frowned. “A witch?”

  “That’s what DiZ called me. But I don’t know why I have this power… I just do. I’m not even sure there is a right way for me to use it.” She shook her head. I don’t know much of anything for sure.

  But that was why she wanted to know how Roxas felt. What he would do.

  “Yeah…I can’t help you there.” Bewildered, Roxas smiled awkwardly.

  She couldn’t help but smile back.

  They shared a few moments of quiet. Then, as if he couldn’t bear to look at her for too long, Roxas turned his attention to the room again. Among the significant number of drawings tacked up on the wall, the ones of men in black cloaks got his attention. Naminé noticed something about those men tugged at his mind. But right now he probably didn’t know any more about them than she did.

  “It’s funny… Suddenly I feel like I don’t know myself at all,” Roxas said. “I guess I would like to know… What do you know that I don’t?”

  “You…” Naminé raised her eyes and told him, “You aren’t supposed to exist, Roxas.”

  His eyebrows drew tight. “What…? How could you say something like that? Even if it was true!”

  Seeing him upset filled her with sorrow, too. What she’d said to him was also true of herself.

  You and I…neither of us were supposed to exist. Just like them.

  “I’m sorry,” Naminé apologized, looking away. “I guess…knowing doesn’t make a difference.”

  If Roxas didn’t need to know, there was no reason for her to keep talking to him.

  The instant she felt that, Roxas disappeared from the room.

  There’s nothing more we can talk about. It’s better if he doesn’t know all this. I never wanted to, either.

  “Roxas? Roxas!”

  Hearing Pence’s voice, Roxas twitched.

  “Huh?” He looked around and Naminé was nowhere to be seen. He was out in front of the haunted mansion.

  “Didja see her?” Pence demanded.

  “The window…” Roxas pointed to the second-story window, where the curtains were fluttering. He felt as if Naminé was still watching him from up there… But he couldn’t see her.

  “Aw, weak. That’s just the curtains moving. I bet it’s all drafty ’cos the place is falling apart.”

  “…Yeah.” Roxas nodded.

  That had to be a dream just now.

  I was never supposed to exist…? Why would she say that?

  “Well, let’s head back to our spot. Hayner and Olette are waiting.” Pence headed into the forest, and Roxas followed.

  Naminé…

  “You aren’t supposed to exist.”

  Roxas glanced back at the mansion once more. There was no one at the window.

  He walked slowly through the mansion.

  The train… That really hadn’t been necessary. He couldn’t understand why DiZ would deliberately do something so uncalled for.

  There was a soft patter of footsteps behind him. He turned to see Naminé, miserably hanging her head, thin shoulders trembling.

  “…Naminé?”

  “You once said the darkness would lead you.” She didn’t look at him as she spoke, and her voice was barely audible.

  He realized that she might be crying.

  “Your darkness belongs to you… You need it.”

  “What are you getting at?” He took a step closer to her.

  “The world…needs darkness. Light exists because there is darkness. So what about us?” Finally she looked up at him. “What about us?”

  We are neither darkness nor light…, Naminé mused.

  Why were we even born?

  Olette greeted them back at their hideout below the tracks. “Hey, guys. How’d it go?”

  “The true identity of the girl in the window is…a curtain flapping in the wind,” was Pence’s mock report.<
br />
  Roxas looked for Hayner, but he didn’t seem to be there. Is he…mad at me again?

  “I figured it was something like that,” Olette said. “So the report’s already done.”

  “All right!” Pence jumped for joy.

  “So, wanna go find Hayner? He’s probably at the station.” Olette had noticed the way Roxas was looking around. She went up to him. “You know, we only have two more days together.”

  “Huh?” Something about the words felt like they carried some special meaning.

  “You know, of summer vacation,” Olette said.

  “Oh… Right.”

  Only two more days of summer vacation. School would be starting before they knew it…

  He paid a visit not to the computer room, but to one of the rooms in the mansion. Since Sora’s condition had settled, DiZ didn’t spend as much time in front of the screen. Apparently he was nearly finished with those documents he’d been typing up, too.

  “Why did you let him see the train?” he asked.

  At the question, DiZ raised his head with a hint of a smile. “Because he missed the trip to the beach.”

  “Hmph… That’s almost kind of you.”

  DiZ averted his gaze. “Now—what about you? Are the holes in your memory starting to fill in?”

  “Yes… The haze is clearing,” he replied, and closed his eyes.

  What came to mind was that island… The sea. The sky. Sora and Kairi smiled in his memory.

  He sat down in a chair facing DiZ.

  “The same thing is happening to everyone who had ties to Sora. Very soon, to them, he’ll be like a good friend who was away for a year.” DiZ’s eye winked as he gave a satisfied smile.

  “I’ve been waiting, and now I want to know. What is it that you want?”

  His eye widened again. “Revenge.”

  He looked at the floor. He hadn’t expected to hear that word out of DiZ’s mouth.

  “Now, to wrap things up,” DiZ said. “We must dispose of Naminé.”

  He frowned beneath his hood.

  “She did a splendid job with Sora, but it’s high time she disappeared. Roxas isn’t the only one who was never meant to exist. Take care of it, Ansem.”

  Making no reply, he remained unmoving.

  Atop the clock tower, Hayner nibbled at his sea-salt ice cream and watched the setting sun.

  “Tomorrow we search the town,” he said when he noticed that the others had joined him, but he didn’t look away from the sunset.